The ‘Right to Food Campaign’ was launched last year in Liverpool with the aim of bringing to the public’s attention the unacceptable levels of food poverty in the UK and to lobby the Government to take urgent steps to eliminate this disgraceful state of affairs.

On February 26, it held one of its series of Community Assemblies at the Hirst Welfare Centre in Ashington to hear from those in our area with direct experience of food insecurity and to explore solutions.

I, and everyone else who attended, were appalled by hearing the extent that hunger has become normal for so many amongst us.

It is totally unacceptable that in a rich country like ours, 7.5million people are not able to afford to eat regularly and one in three children experience food insecurity.

This simply cannot continue and I, therefore, wholeheartedly support the Right to Food Campaign’s demand that the inalienable human right to have sufficient, safe and nutritious food be enshrined in law. Such legislation would require that all economic and social policies recognise this basic human right and those that do not would be declared unlawful.

A statutory right to food would mean that any government contemplating, for instance, benefits changes would have to take into account whether a breach of this overriding principle could be a consequence.

Safeguarding all citizens from hunger would become a central duty of any government, thereby putting it on a par with the duty to protect our people from harm when considering issues of national security.

The Labour Government has taken important steps towards reducing the numbers suffering food poverty – such as school breakfast clubs and eliminating the two child benefit limit – but much more needs to be done.

One of the campaign's series of Community Assemblies recently took place at the Hirst Welfare Centre in Ashington.

Great wealth exists in the UK and, with the political will, we could eliminate hunger.

Would it not be fairer for the very wealthy to pay a bit more in tax so that no child ever suffers from food poverty? Of course it would.

Residents in the Blyth and Ashington constituency can contact my office by calling 01670 852494 or emailing [email protected] and there are also regular updates that are posted on my Facebook page (Ian Lavery MP).