Aylesbury Conservative councillor says food banks are for people with "drug, alcohol +mental health problems"

A Conservative councillor in Buckinghamshire has deleted his Twitter account after receiving widespread criticism for his comments about food banks.

Aylesbury Vale district councillor and Aylesbury town councillor, Cllr Mark Winn, said:

The people visiting food banks are those with drug, alcohol + mental health problems.

There will, of course, be people visiting food banks who have drug, alcohol and mental health problems but the vast majority are just ordinary people who are down on their luck. The ConDems have introduced targets for sanctions - temporarily stopping benefits for people as punishment for infringing some rule or other - which means some people having no money at all to pay bills or buy food so DWP staff can hit their targets. Benefits "reforms" such as the arbitrary withdrawal of housing benefit for people with spare bedrooms (the so-called "bedroom tax") and the botched ATOS assessments of people on disability benefits have resulted in tens of thousands of people having benefits reduced or withdrawn.

Deprivation is a huge contributor to drug, alcohol and mental health problems. People take drugs or get drunk to forget their problems and when it gets out of hand the support systems are so overstretched that they struggle to get the support they need to break the cycle. The same goes with mental health problems - it is believed that 1 in 4 people have some sort of mental illness, ranging from stress or mild depression to full on psychosis. The waiting list in some places for counselling on the NHS is over 3 months which is frankly ridiculous, It's no wonder mental health is an increasing problem.

Of course, the answer to a lot of these problems is the people affected getting a job. Working increases your self-worth and self-confidence, it distracts drinkers and drug takers from their addiction and it gives them an income. There is a clear correlation between unemployment levels and drink, drug and mental health problems, But there aren't enough jobs out there for people who already live in this country, let alone the hundreds of thousands of economic immigrants who move here to compete for the same jobs. Mass immigration is bad for the economy and bad for the social fabric of the country and it is the poorest and most vulnerable people that suffer the most.

Iain Duncan Smith talks down food banks with some dodgy maths

Iain Duncan Smith says that the number of people using food banks in the UK is "tiny" and isn't a result of changes to the welfare system because Germany has far more generous benefits and they have more people using food banks.

The Trussell Trust, which runs a nationwide network of food banks, says it has fed 913,138 in a year. Add in the independent and church-run food banks all over the country and over a million people have used food banks. Germany has a population of nearly 86.7m compared to the UK's 62m which works out at roughly the same percentage of the population.

There is a huge difference between the German and UK unemployment benefit system. In Germany you have to pay into the system to get out of it and you have to pay into it for two years for every year you can take out. There's none of the nonsense we have here with some people being entitled to as much as £50k in benefits either - a couple in Germany would need to have 12 children to be entitled to more than £50k in unemployment benefits. If you have savings in Germany then you will be expected to spend those before you get benefits - no protecting your nest egg and using taxpayers' money to pay your bills there. Yet despite the much stricter benefits system, Germany still has roughly the same percentage of the population using food banks as we do here in the UK with what is still, despite the punitive changes the Tories and Lib Dems have brought in, a very generous welfare system.

The more millionaire Tories trying to talk down the vital role that food banks play in feeding the people that they've let down the better, we need more UKIP MPs working for people in need instead of Tories like IDS working against them.

Image: Street Democracy

UKIP Eastbourne donate £345 to local food bank

UKIP's Eastbourne branch has raised £345 for the local food bank through its regular quiz nights.

The branch holds a monthly quiz night and raises funds throughout the year for a chosen charity. Last year's charity was the Eastleigh Food Bank and they presented them with a cheque this week.

The branch is now looking for suggestions for a local charity to support for the coming year. If you live in the Eastbourne area you can email your suggestions to thornton.act@gmail.com.