***Mr Sunak’s government has told the UN special rapporteur on the right to food that he cannot visit the UK until next year. Professor Michael Fakhri, who uses his role to study***[ ***hunger and food insecurity***](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poverty-work-children-dwp-benefits-b2499772.html) ***in countries around the world, asked to make a formal visit to the UK more than 20 months ago.***
***His request was denied in April by the minister for food, farming and fisheries, Sir Mark Spencer, who said a visit would not be feasible this year, denying the UN inspector the chance to conduct his research during the current parliament.***
Food and human rights charities and civil society organisations have now written to Mr Sunak to ask that the decision be reversed.
They say that it is “deeply disappointing that the UK government will not be inviting the special rapporteur this year”, adding: “We call on the UK government to facilitate this visit in the current parliament.”
“he cannot visit the UK until next year” when we can blame it on the new government!
No one should take the UN Human Rights Council seriously, particularly the Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
““We spend over £1billion per annum delivering free school lunches to the greatest ever proportion of school children – over a third,” he said.
“That is in contrast to the one in six who were receiving a free school meal in 2010. This change is despite unemployment being down by a million, more than 600,000 fewer children being in workless households since 2010 and the proportion of people in low hourly pay having halved since 2015.”
We’ve been through this before haven’t we? The UN did that report into disability welfare and found we had created a deeply discriminatory system that was directly contributing to thousands of deaths, and it was immediately written off as leftie anti-British nonsense not worth bothering about.
A loaf of bread is so cheap even if they sent them to school with just plain bread and butter the is no excuse for them to need to eat rubbers, Thats a need for social services to take them not a need for free meals.
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More than 80 charities and civil society bodies have called on Rishi Sunak to reverse a decision to block a UK visit by the UN inspector on [food poverty until after the election.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poverty-children-dwp-energy-bills-food-b2434506.html)
***Mr Sunak’s government has told the UN special rapporteur on the right to food that he cannot visit the UK until next year. Professor Michael Fakhri, who uses his role to study***[ ***hunger and food insecurity***](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poverty-work-children-dwp-benefits-b2499772.html) ***in countries around the world, asked to make a formal visit to the UK more than 20 months ago.***
***His request was denied in April by the minister for food, farming and fisheries, Sir Mark Spencer, who said a visit would not be feasible this year, denying the UN inspector the chance to conduct his research during the current parliament.***
Food and human rights charities and civil society organisations have now written to Mr Sunak to ask that the decision be reversed.
[In a letter signed by 85 groups](https://justfair.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/UNSR-right-to-food-letter.pdf), including Amnesty International, Just Fair, and the Food Foundation, the charities wrote: “We believe now is an opportune time for a country visit by the UN special rapporteur on the right to food due to the [increasing levels of poverty](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/poverty-work-children-dwp-benefits-b2499772.html), food bank use, and [reports of hunger ](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dwp-fruit-vegetables-diet-benefits-family-food-inflation-b2502623.html)that have remained persistent for a number of years and became more pronounced during the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis”.
They say that it is “deeply disappointing that the UK government will not be inviting the special rapporteur this year”, adding: “We call on the UK government to facilitate this visit in the current parliament.”
[Recent research by the Food Foundation found ](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dwp-fruit-vegetables-diet-benefits-family-food-inflation-b2502623.html)that 15 per cent of UK households are living in food insecurity – equivalent to 8 million adults and 3 million children. The levels of food poverty are twice as high as they were in 2021, the charity found.
“he cannot visit the UK until next year” when we can blame it on the new government!
No one should take the UN Human Rights Council seriously, particularly the Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
““We spend over £1billion per annum delivering free school lunches to the greatest ever proportion of school children – over a third,” he said.
“That is in contrast to the one in six who were receiving a free school meal in 2010. This change is despite unemployment being down by a million, more than 600,000 fewer children being in workless households since 2010 and the proportion of people in low hourly pay having halved since 2015.”
In January, [London Mayor Sadiq Khan](https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/london-ulez-charge-sadiq-khan-b2481527.html) announced the extension of Universal [Free School Meals](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/free-school-meals) for state primary school [children](https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/children) across the capital. This programme costs the Greater London Authority approximately £130m a year.”
We’ve been through this before haven’t we? The UN did that report into disability welfare and found we had created a deeply discriminatory system that was directly contributing to thousands of deaths, and it was immediately written off as leftie anti-British nonsense not worth bothering about.
A loaf of bread is so cheap even if they sent them to school with just plain bread and butter the is no excuse for them to need to eat rubbers, Thats a need for social services to take them not a need for free meals.