Canned food, spaghetti, tea, coffee and shopping coupons. As Deutsche Welle reports, these essentials and more are in packages that more and more Britons are looking for at food banks/local grocers.

The number of people needing free food has increased by 46% in recent months compared to last year, according to the latest data from the Trussell Trust, the country’s largest food bank. It is a fact that the conditions in which the country finds itself have created a chain problem. A bit of Brexit and the inability to adapt to new data, a bit of a pandemic when the state has still not recovered financially, a little war in Ukraine with an energy crisis that fuels inflation, all this managed to “squeeze” the British into a corner.

Characteristically, food inflation in the country now exceeds 16%, while the economy shrank by 0.3% in July-September, which is higher than the forecast figure in percentage terms. As a result, according to the Trussell Trust, there will be a “tsunami” of demand for free food around Christmas, with additional research showing that even “households with working adults” turn to food banks, namely one in five. Most social grocers are asking the government to take some action as they struggle to keep up with such high demand. But Rishi Sunak’s government has been described by many in the British media as “disappeared” because, despite serious events taking place in the country, such as strikes, it has not reacted in any way and has not yet offered citizens immediate assistance. “It is clearer than ever that philanthropy has become a response to growing poverty, but this is neither sustainable nor acceptable,” Sabina Goodwin, president of the Food Aid Network, told a German news agency.

Meanwhile, an analysis by the BBC yesterday showed that 21 boroughs in England will not be offering food and entertainment vouchers to children at Christmas. Finally, according to the Union of Local Governments, municipalities with high needs have not received enough money from the government, leaving them unable to cope with their already troubled finances.