Hunger is a political choice. Could a ‘Right to Food’ change everything?

Every day 14 million people in the UK go to bed hungry. This figure is increasing, with almost four million children living in homes struggling with food poverty. Political choices such as austerity, caps to benefits and cuts to social protection spending have led to the present figures.

The rising cost of food and housing places difficult choices for vulnerable groups, who often are forced to choose cheaper food to feed their families. Almost 70% of the food our young adults eat in the UK is ultra processed, often including high levels of salt, sugar and fat, while our fruit and vegetable consumption is reducing to just 33% of adults and 12% of 11–18-year-olds currently eating the five portions a day. These are all challenges we need to address.

Read more:

• Save tens of billions in public money by ending hunger – not slashing benefits, government told
• How ‘social supermarkets’ offer hope and dignity for people facing hunger
• Food banks are a lifeline – but not the solution. There are better ways to tackle poverty in 2025

The impact from the lack of investment in addressing poverty, hunger and nutrition is clear, with rising levels of chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity in the UK.

The new NHS 10 Year Health Plan declares that we need to bring care closer to the community and increase the focus on preventing illnesses. This change in focus would reduce the present demand on the NHS and encourage more active ageing in our communities. The call to put the communities back into the centre of planning and implementing public health and nutrition services, confirms what our participants requested last year at the World Public Health Nutrition Congress in London.

What can the UK do?

On 13 September, students and academics at the University of Westminster collaborated with Ian Byrne MP to host the inaugural Right to Food UK Conference, aiming to address the UK’s deepening food insecurity crisis and its devastating impact on health.

The conference marked the public announcement of a UK Right to Food Commission, which will collect evidence on what is working to improve public health and nutrition in UK.

Chair of the commission professor Barrie Margetts said: “Food security isn’t just about availability, it’s about affordability, accessibility and time. The food exists, but it’s priced out of reach for so many now. The global food system makes unhealthy food cheap and nutritious food expensive, while wages stagnate and rents soar. The commission will explore these issues, as well as many more, and develop practical plans to deliver the campaign’s five key demands.”

Byrne was the keynote speaker and introduced his five steps to help address the Right to Food. The first is universal free school meals – every child deserves a hot, nutritious meal at school. Secondly, transparency on food costs in wages and benefits – the government must disclose how food costs are factored into minimum wage and benefit calculations. This must be backed up by a regulatory body with powers to hold government accountable.

Finally, the government should fund dining clubs, meals-on-wheels, holiday meal programs and cookery clubs, and embed food security across all policy areas.

“Hunger is a political choice,” Byrne said. He called for participants to call for change and for communities to come together to hold their government to account for Right to Food as promised in 1948.

As Byrne’s five steps set out, we must act collectively, working together, writing to our MPs, building grassroots Right to Food groups, towns and cities, and taking visible actions, including hunger marches, to ensure government listens. NHS strategies must put communities and nutrition at their core.

The success of London’s free school meals programme shows what is possible, with obesity levels falling and student engagement, learning and attention improving. Universal free nutritious school meals should be rolled out across the UK. Local governments need resources to support community food provisioning including community kitchens, meals-on-wheels and food-growing programmes that strengthen nutrition, health and wellbeing.

Access to public health nutrition services must not be determined by postcode, and community health nutritionists could provide vital bridges between schools, clinics and local communities while creating jobs for young people. With many food bank users already in work, we must guarantee decent wages and benefits for all.

A combined approach is needed to put food security at the centre of health, nutrition and food systems, shifting power from food industries to community-led food systems. Strong food standards, backed by an independent enforcement body with legal powers, are essential to hold government to account and to build sustainable local food systems that provide nutritious, culturally appropriate food and deliver food justice for all.

Dr Regina Murphy Keith and Dr Sharon Noonan Gunning are course leaders for the MSc in global public health nutrition at the University of Westminster.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Reader-funded since 1991 – Big Issue brings you trustworthy journalism that drives real change.

Every day, our journalists dig deeper, speaking up for those society overlooks.

Could you help us keep doing this vital work? Support our journalism from £5 a month.