Congratulations to all newly elected MSPs

Warm congratulations to all the newly elected (and re-elected) MSPs who were sworn in to the Scottish Parliament this week, from all of us here at the Edinburgh Food Project.

In the run up to the elections we were delighted to welcome candidates from all the major political parties to take part in our hustings events, visit our foodbanks and meet with people with lived experience of relying on emergency food parcels. We were much encouraged throughout the election campaign to hear time and again that there is support from all political parties for our goals to tackle poverty, and move beyond the widespread need for foodbanks. The previous Scottish Government published an ambitious strategy to end the need for foodbanks in Scotland. Positive work has begun but the task is far from complete. Last year our foodbanks handed out 18,000 emergency food parcels to people who would otherwise go hungry.

In these elections, many voters turned away from political parties of Government who have made commitments to end hunger and hardship before and haven’t managed to turn the tide. Now is the time for delivery.

Over the coming months and years we are committed to working with the new Parliament to identify positive and achievable actions that will significantly reduce reliance on foodbanks. It will be important that more politically contentious debates about economic growth and living standards do not undermine focus on targeted action to get help to people surviving on tiny incomes or no money at all. We know that policies like no recourse to public funds and the five week wait for universal credit drive thousands of people to foodbanks every year. The Scottish Parliament has the legal powers to mitigate these policies and identify further actions to prevent destitution in Scotland.

The Good Food Nation Act set out a vision for Scotland to become “a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day.” We look forward to working with the new Parliament to make this a reality.