Conservative MP says people need food banks ‘as they cannot cook or budget’

A Conservative MP has said that British people only need food banks because “they cannot cook properly” and “cannot budget”.

MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson said this afternoon that “everybody” on the opposition benches ought to to visit a food bank in his seat where those who visit are made to sign up for budgeting and cooking courses before they can receive a donation.

He said the courses showed people how to produce meals for “about 30 pence a day”.

When quizzed by a Labour MP over whether food banks ought to exist in modern Britain, Anderson argued that while there is no “ massive use for food banks… “generation after generation who cannot cook properly” and “cannot budget”.

Responding to Anderson’s comments, Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain MP said: “These comments are disgraceful and an insult to millions of hard-working people who are struggling to put food on the table for their family through no fault of their own.

“Lee Anderson should apologise straight away for his shameful remarks.”