Election & Poverty

Church communities, including Methodists, are joining forces ahead of the General Election to call for an end to poverty.

Statistics show 14.3 million people in the UK – one in five – are living below the poverty line, with one in ten classed as 'food insecure'. And globally – according to the UN – more than 700 million people – or 10 percent of the world's population – live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 a day, which is about £1.49.

Local churches serve communities with a variety of projects including foodbanks, Warm Spaces, winter night shelters and debt centres but are battling with ever rising levels of hardship. Trussell Trust foodbanks alone served a record 3.1million food parcels almost double the number given out five years ago.

Revd Gill Newton and Deacon Kerry Scarlett, President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference write, "As Methodists, our concern for the poorest in society goes back to the very start of early Methodism, and continues today in the work churches do to offer foodbanks, food pantries, debt advice centres, warm spaces and more."

For more information from the Methodist Church website, click here.