Campaigners from Slough Foodbank are calling on the Government to act now to end UK hunger.

They met at Slough Trading Estate to unveil a message calling for immediate steps to be taken to tackle food poverty and insecurity.

They were supporting the national End Hunger UK campaign which wants to halve household food insecurity by 2025, as a step to ending it by 2030.

Sue Sibany-King, Slough Foodbank manager said: “It cannot be right that so many people in our town are going hungry, having been swept into poverty by systems beyond their control. There are some amazing projects in the town helping to meet the need day to day, but we need to move beyond sticking-plaster solutions and really tackle the causes of food poverty. We need the Government to lead on this, and really tackle the systems that are pushing people into deeper difficulty so people can escape the clutches of poverty.”

Following recent campaigns the Government as part of the 2018 budget agreed to spend an extra £1.7bn to address some of the most glaring problems associated with the roll-out of Universal Credit.

Niall Cooper, Chair of End Hunger UK, said: "The UK has no shortage of food. The problem is one of incomes – too many working and non-working households are being hamstrung by insufficient wages and a benefits system that does not cover people’s essential costs. Charitable emergency food provision has proliferated in the UK in the past decade and large numbers of people have been forced to turn to food aid providers. In the sixth wealthiest nation on the planet, this is simply not right.”