Watch as Crawley's parliamentary candidates faced a question about immigration from St Wilfrid's student Hamza Najam ahead of the General Election 2024.
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00:00After lockdown, when we all started to return to school, I noticed that food bank had signed up.
00:06Four years on, lockdown is long gone, but the food bank is still there.
00:10At what point are food banks going to be an exception rather than the norm?
00:16So, like most of you and people listening at home, during lockdown, we as a nation went through a very difficult time.
00:25We lost lots of our loved ones, and however, at the same time, we worked as a community together, we looked after each other.
00:34We helped wherever we needed to help, our residents, the older people where they did not have anybody to help them.
00:41Food banks are set up as one set up, and you know, I have volunteered on one or two food banks during that time,
00:50and I think we need, our economy is growing, the wages are growing faster than inflation now.
00:57Inflation is down to 2%, which is Bank of England's target, and I think our economy is turning a corner.
01:04We are not far off when these food banks, the number of them will start coming down,
01:10and our social security system, we need to help people wherever we need to help them,
01:18and also we need to make it fair and encourage people to work wherever somebody can work.
01:25So, again, I'm very grateful for people working in those food banks, I'm grateful for people donating to those food banks,
01:34and also, at the same time, I think once the economy is stabilised, we will see the number of food banks going down.
01:42Thank you for that.
01:44Do you agree, Peter?
01:46Well, I remember that feedback being set up, because I spoke to a headteacher at the time,
01:50and he asked my advice about how to keep money off the ground.
01:52At the same time, we were having a conversation about free school meal vouchers,
01:55because at the time the government wasn't sponsoring through the holiday, and a lot of people were struggling,
02:00trying to get the scheme up and running on the local level, to keep people fed through the holidays,
02:04so people's parents didn't struggle.
02:06As a local party, we've been collecting food banks across the town, and I can tell you,
02:09demand has never been greater than this before.
02:11But I remember when we didn't have food banks in Crawley, we didn't need them.
02:15People had enough money on the table.
02:17You shouldn't have to rely on charity to be able to feed yourself and your family.
02:22That's the sentence the country has got to, where we are so reliant on these things,
02:26because the system is so thoroughly broken.
02:28People can't get enough to keep themselves even fed.
02:32We have to get people's incomes up, and that means making sure pensions are enough,
02:36it means ensuring that people are low incomes.
02:38It's not even low incomes anymore.
02:39You talk to a lot of people at food banks, and I have done,
02:42a lot of the time they've got professional jobs.
02:43We're talking about nurses here, we're talking about police officers,
02:45where it just isn't enough to make ends meet.
02:48We have to ensure that we've got a system that ensures that everyone has enough to come in,
02:51and some of that is going to be about making sure the economy grows again.
02:55Some of that is going to be making sure that we've got more white rice at work,
02:57so they can fight for that better pay deal.
02:59They've been out on picket lines fighting as part of strikes,
03:02and they've been there to support all of these different strikes across town throughout this period,
03:05to make sure that people could get that better deal.
03:07And it means that in terms of a benefit system,
03:09and people don't like discussing this,
03:11they like always saying someone's getting a better deal than them,
03:14but all the evidence is that poverty has been driven by the cuts that have been made to our benefit system
03:19over the last 14 years, and that has to be tackled.
03:22If people are ever going to get back to a situation where we do not have the utter disgrace
03:26of over a third of the kids in this town growing up in poverty,
03:29in one of the wealthiest communities in the world,
03:31that's a legacy to be proud of, sir.
03:36Lee?
03:41I remember Dominic Roth a few years ago,
03:44formerly the Crown Secretary,
03:48and more recently Deputy Prime Minister,
03:51he described food banks,
03:54and the people who use them,
03:56he said, I won't quote it that way,
03:58because I can't remember the exact word,
04:00but he basically said that food banks are predominantly used by people that have a cash flow problem.
04:05Now, if you've got a government that is viewing the use of food banks,
04:08and the need for food banks like that,
04:10you're never going to get anywhere.
04:12The cash flow problem, to me,
04:14is people that have money,
04:16that, for different reasons,
04:18maybe a problem with the market,
04:21they can't quite use that money at that time.
04:24Food banks are being used by people that work
04:26many, many hours a week,
04:28maybe more than one job,
04:30and they literally cannot afford
04:32to buy their food.
04:34They're eating all their food.
04:36So, if, given the words from Dominic Roth,
04:39as an illustration
04:41of how
04:43the Conservative government has viewed
04:45people that are struggling,
04:47that work and are struggling,
04:49we can see why we haven't got anyone.
04:51Now, when I was a councillor in a place called Burgess Hill,
04:53that was around the time of COVID.
04:55COVID was a clusterfuck.
04:57And,
04:59one thing it highlighted was,
05:01it didn't create the food insecurity,
05:03it highlighted, in the South East,
05:05in places like Sussex,
05:07we're viewed as very affable,
05:09you don't have a poverty in places like this.
05:11And what COVID did,
05:13was to highlight, actually,
05:15that food insecurity and food poverty
05:17has been there for a long time.
05:19So, me and a few other councillors at the time,
05:21we got our heads together and we made a
05:23performing charity that we became
05:25trustees of, where you could,
05:27it's effectively a food shop
05:29that's, the price is
05:31much cheaper, we get
05:33the offshoots from
05:35major supermarkets and charge a
05:37fair deal. And that's
05:39also covered people that don't
05:41fit into the traditional benefits
05:43system. There's a lot of people that are left out
05:45of claiming benefits
05:47because they don't fit the criteria.
05:49So,
05:51that's something that I've done in person
05:53on this subject.
05:55But, cruelly, it's the same.
05:57People just
05:59are not able to,
06:01if the money isn't
06:03if the money isn't as long as the
06:05as the
06:07I forgot the other word, I thought it began with N as well
06:09but if your money isn't going to last
06:11until, it isn't going to last
06:13until the next pay packet, then you've got no
06:15you've got no choice.
06:17So, what are the Liberal Democrats
06:19looking at trying to do on this? First of all,
06:21we want to implement a national
06:23food strategy. Sounds ridiculous
06:25in this day and age, we have to implement something
06:27like that, something so basic.
06:29So, really,
06:31we need farmers to be able to trade
06:33like they used to in the European Union.
06:35And I'm sorry for
06:37others that may not be massive
06:39fans of the European Union, it's still massively
06:41important. You can't cut off trade
06:43or make trade
06:45harder with the biggest trade
06:47you've had for decades.
06:49Literally across the Channel
06:51and through the land borders
06:53and expect prices
06:55not to increase.
06:57And
06:59we want to give
07:01farmers the ability to
07:03negotiate standards
07:05of trade with Europe so that
07:07we can actually have those tariff-free
07:11goods
07:13so that we can actually get
07:15them to produce better.
07:17It seems as though
07:19both the South and the UK seem to be blaming
07:21the Saxon Party for the
07:23proposal to be banned.
07:25Do you want to respond to that?
07:27I'll say one thing that
07:29it's been mentioned as a benefit system.
07:31We need to have a benefit system
07:33but at the same time we need to have a
07:35benefit system which support us
07:37when we need it.
07:39But at the same time we need to have a benefit
07:41system which encourage people
07:43to go out and get a job and help
07:45them to go and get a job. And that's
07:47what we are trying to do.
07:49And if we just look on figures, this year
07:516.7%
07:53support
07:55for vulnerable people.
07:57Their benefits have gone up 6.7%.
07:59National
08:01living wage has increased to
08:03£11.44 now at the moment
08:05which is £1,800
08:07more for the lowest
08:09paid income people.
08:11Same time, £11 billion
08:13worth of cost of living
08:15payments have been made.
08:17£3 billion in household
08:19support funds have been paid
08:21to people. We are a country
08:23where we
08:25run our system on taxes.
08:27So if we are helping one of
08:29us, somebody needs to pay
08:31for that. So if I'm getting help
08:33one of you need to pay and some of you
08:35need to fund that. So it's very important
08:37that we strike that
08:39balance and we have a system
08:41where we can balance those books and
08:43when people need help
08:45we help them. At the same time
08:47we help them to get on jobs and
08:49try to do whatever they want to decide
08:51for them rather than we put them
08:53in a system where they are stuck
08:55in that circle and they don't get that option
08:57to go out and work and
08:59there is not that help over there.
09:01One thing, last point
09:03I'll say last point.
09:05We want to hear it again and again
09:07that last 14 years we have been
09:09in power. There is no question about that.
09:11We have been in power for the last 14 years
09:13but people have been
09:15voting for us as a party
09:17in every election in those
09:1914 years. We haven't
09:21been perfect but now
09:23not only we are looking on the past 14 years
09:25we need to look what
09:27we and everybody else is offering
09:29you for the next 5 years
09:31as well. So why don't you decide
09:33tomorrow morning, make sure 14
09:35plus next 5 as well.