「暖房か食料か」　生活費高騰に苦しむ英国人

【コルチェスターＡＦＰ＝時事】英イングランド東部コルチェスターのショッピングモールに併設された、余った食材を集めて生活困窮者らに提供するコルチェスター・フードバンクでは昨年、１万７０００人分に相当する１６５トンの食料を配った。今年はそれを上回る２万人分が必要になる見通しだ。（写真は英ロンドン南部ブリクストンの教会内にあるフードバンクで、市民に届ける食料品をまとめるボランティア）
　英国では昨年１２月、インフレ率が前年同月比５．４％上昇し、３０年ぶりの高い伸びを記録した。実質賃金が下がる一方で、食費とエネルギー価格は高騰している。
　コルチェスター・フードバンクで提供される食料の９５％が、地元のスーパーマーケットの店頭で一般市民から寄付されたものだ。現在の経済状況下で、これまで食料配布を必要としなかった多くの人が支援に頼らざるを得なくなっている。
　４５歳のハイディさんは「いつもはフードバンクに寄付する側なのだけれど、今は助けを求める側になった」と語った。「とにかく何でもかんでも」値上がりして困っていると言うハイディさん。電気代は昨年の２倍近くに跳ね上がったという。
　他の多くの英国人と同様、ハイディさんはこの冬、「暖房か食料か」の厳しい選択を迫られている。

■根本的な欠陥
　コルチェスター・フードバンクを運営する慈善団体トラッセル・トラストが３日分の食料を提供する緊急支援を行った対象人数は、２００９年には約２万６０００人だったのが、昨年は２５０万人を超えた。
　フードライターで貧困撲滅運動家のジャック・モンロー氏は、基礎食料の中には、インフレ率を大きく上回る値上がり率を示しているものも多いと指摘。パスタの最安値は１年前に５００グラム当たり０．２９ポンド（約４５円）だったのが、現在は０．７０ポンド（約１０８円）、コメの最安値も１キロ当たり０．４５ポンド（約７０円）から５００グラム当たり１．００ポンド（約１５４円）に値上がりしたと、ツイッターに投稿した。
　「インフレの影響の測定方法には根本的な欠陥がある。最低賃金や『ゼロ時間契約（不定期の短時間雇用契約）』の人、フードバンク利用者、その他大勢の人にとっての現実と実勢価格の上昇を一切考慮に入れていない」とするモンロー氏のツイートは、広く拡散された。

■利用者の４２％が子ども
　コルチェスター・フードバンクの責任者、マイク・ベケット氏によれば、２０２０年にフードバンクを利用した人の４２％が子どもだった。「フードバンクを訪れる決心がつくまで、車の中で２０分も１時間もためらったと話す人もいる」とベケット氏。「フードバンクを利用する必要に迫られるなんて思ってもみなかった人たちだ。利用したくなくても、子どものためには選択の余地はない」
　貧困撲滅を掲げる慈善団体ジョセフ・ローントゥリー財団は、英国の貧困に関する２０２２年版の報告書で「社会保障制度の設計の仕方が食料不安の増大に直結し、フードバンク利用が増加する原因となっている」と指摘する。
　英国では４月に光熱費の値上げが予定されており、家計負担はさらに重くなる見通しだ。新型コロナウイルス対策費が膨らむ中、さらなる増税も見込まれている。その結果、総所得の１０％以上を光熱費に費やす「エネルギー貧困」に陥る世帯が全国で増えることになるとみられる。
　フードバンクを初めて利用したハイディさんは訴える。「だれもが（フードバンクに）寄付すべきだ。いつ自分が利用する立場になるか分からないのだから。まさに私のように」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/31-11:22）

Nestled amid superstores at a retail park, the Colchester Foodbank in eastern England last year gave out a total of 165 tonnes of food -- enough to feed 17,000 people.
But that could be surpassed this year, as British annual inflation hits a 30-year high of 5.4 percent in December, as real wages fall, and food and energy costs rise.
We think we're likely to feed 20,000 people in 2022, said foodbank manager Mike Beckett. If there is a slowdown, and things get worse, it might be as many as 25,000 people.
That is certainly a bit of a nightmare. Our worst case scenario is maybe 30,000 people.
About 95 percent of the produce at the foodbank, run by the Trussell Trust charity, comes from members of the public donating at collection points at local supermarkets.
But the current economic climate has forced many who wouldn't normally need food parcels to seek assistance.
I normally put something in the foodbank trolley but now it's my turn to have some help, said Heidi, 45, who said she was struggling with price rises on just everything.
I'm struggling big time, basically. Bills have got really high, that's why I'm here, she said.
Like many in Britain, this winter she will have to make the tough choice between heating or eating.
My electricity is going up. I'm putting in probably about £80 (95 euros/110 dollars) a month now, as opposed to 40 or 50 last year, she said.
- 'Fundamentally flawed' -
The Trust says the number of people receiving three days worth of emergency food from its centres across Britain has risen from some 26,000 in 2009 to over 2.5 million in 2021.
British food writer and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe noted after the latest inflation rise this week that the actual cost of many food staples has gone up by much more.
The cheapest pasta at her local supermarket a year ago cost £0.29 for 500 grams (around one pound) while today it is £0.70 -- a hike of 141 percent.
The cheapest rice was £0.45 for one kilogram but now costs £1.00 for 500g.
That's a 344 percent price increase as it hits the poorest and most vulnerable households, she wrote in a viral Twitter thread read by millions.
The system by which we measure the impact of inflation is fundamentally flawed -- it completely ignores the reality and the REAL price rises for people on minimum wages, zero hour contracts, food bank clients, and millions more.
Manager Beckett agrees that however you measure inflation doesn't really account for the cheap food going up, and it's going up by hundreds of percent.
Low-income families are under extra pressure after the government returned welfare benefit payments to pre-pandemic levels, having increased them temporarily during lockdowns.
Beckett says that in 2020 -- a bumper year -- 42 percent of the food bank's clients were children.
People come and report that it's taken them 20 minutes or an hour in their car to get up the courage to come in, he said.
They didn't think they'd ever need to, they don't want to use the food bank, but they don't have a choice because they love their kids.
The question is, when things are cold, people have to choose between eating or heating.
- Chronic health problems -
In a report published this month, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation noted that for children, severe food insecurity has been linked to chronic health conditions like asthma and depression.
A poor diet will impede a child's physical, cognitive and emotional development. Adults in food-insecure households have higher rate of developing chronic diseases such as arthritis, asthma, diabetes and mental health issues, said the report on UK poverty in 2022.
The anti-poverty charity noted key design features of the social security system that directly lead to higher food insecurity and have contributed to the rise in food bank use.
They include having to wait a minimum of five weeks before getting initial benefit payments such as Universal Credit.
Others point to the fact that child benefits are capped at two children.
The cost of living in Britain is forecast to soar even higher in April owing to a tax hike and further planned increases of around 50 percent to domestic energy bills.
More painful tax increases are expected to foot the vast bill for Covid.
As a result, even more households across Britain will face fuel poverty, spending more than 10 percent of their total income on fuel.
There's a lot of people in this situation who have never been in it before, says foodbank client Heidi.
Everyone should put something in (at collection points). Because you never know when you're going to be in this situation. And I certainly didn't think I'd be in it.