The Archbishop of Canterbury blames government welfare reforms for hunger in the UK

The Archbishop of Canterbury has blamed the government's welfare policies as among the reasons for people going hungry in Britain.

While praising the work of those who work in food banks, Justin Welby lamented the "tragedy" that there are "far too many people continuing to struggle to feed themselves and their families in Britain in the 21st century" and said "sanction and delays" in benefits were partly at fault:

It is shocking to read both of the scale of food waste and also of the large amount of evidence that sanctions and delays in connection with the benefits system are still causing what would appear to be unnecessary problems.

However, he did stress that now is not the time to "fall into a blame game" and instead urged those with the power to do so to "make a difference" and "provide solutions".

The archbishop's words come in a foreword of an all-party parliamentary report titled "Feeding Britain in 2015-16" which has been written as a "route map" for ending hunger "as we know it". The government has said in response that it is committed to "an all-out assault on poverty".

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