I was delighted that following my nomination, five local food banks received £4000 from the National Grid Community Giving campaign. Christ the King food bank, New Parks Community Pantry, New Parks Community Mission, and Woodgate Community Food each received £500 from the campaign, and the Cook-E Learning Foundation received £2000. 

This funding is hugely welcome and I know it will help our food banks support more people this Christmas and throughout the winter. 

But people in Leicester should not have to rely on donations in order to put food on the table. Even before the Conservative’s disastrous mini-budget crashed the economy, more than a third of children in Leicester were growing up in poverty. With average wages lower now than they were 12 years ago, and with energy and food bills soaring, it is no wonder that more people are relying on foodbanks. 

Instead of supporting people through this cost-of-living crisis, the Tories are giving us more of the same: higher taxes on working people, lower investment in public services, and no proper plan for growth. 

Labour’s plan would ensure the energy giants and non-doms pay their fair share of tax, with the money raised used to freeze people’s energy bills, insulate 2 million homes and provide free breakfast clubs for children in every primary school in England.