On the 18th of June, food aid teams from across the UK came together for a mass lobby day in Parliament filled with hope, solidarity and action as part of the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign. Like other lobby days, this one involved large groups of frontline staff and volunteers meeting their local MPs to call for urgent action to increase Universal Credit in line with the cost of essentials. In collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) IFAN, Feeding Britain, Salvation Army and Your Local Pantry, Trussell encouraged and supported meetings with over 250 MPs from across the country representing 12 different parties during the course of a jam-packed day in Westminster Hall.

A day like this was desperately needed. For the millions of people across the country who are suffering from the dire consequences of poverty as a result of the inadequacy of Universal Credit. And for the thousands and thousands of food aid workers and volunteers who work tirelessly, often to the point of burnout, only to see the situation stay the same or worsen in their areas month after month.

At the start of the day, food aid teams first met in Parliament Square for photos. The sun was shining and it was already inspiring to see so many people holding placards and wearing t-shirts, united in their belief that the current status quo cannot stay in place. Trussell had organised a series of presentations and workshops in a venue close to Westminster. Its main hall was full and you could feel the energy and spirit of hundreds of people dedicated to supporting people unable to afford food. Food aid teams were called region by region to go over to parliament for the meetings with MPs. Teams cheered loudly as each region was called, building a sense of unity, hope and positivity. It became clear that although most food aid organisations are small, together their representatives form a loud, infectious voice that can’t be ignored.

Once convened in Westminster Hall, food bank representatives talked with their MPs about the urgent need for action and shared stories from the frontline. Some of the teams had further meetings with their MPs in their parliamentary offices and even went on tours of Parliament. (You can read about Leominster’s experience of the Lobby day here, including some encouraging words from their local MP).

When we first started to collectively plan lobby day earlier this year, we had no idea what the turnout was likely to be. We know how stretched food bank teams are and how exhausting the work is. The fact that so many people from Trussell, IFAN, Feeding Britain, Your Local Pantry and Salvation Army networks prioritised this day shows just how important and urgent this issue is. It was also inspiring to see how far people had travelled, the lengths they had taken to be there. IFAN members Cetma, based in Llanelli, had travelled overnight from West Wales, taking 3 trains in order to reach Westminster for the morning kick off. Other IFAN member organisations involved included Black Country Foodbank, Food in Community, The Star Project, Bassetlaw Food Bank, Bromyard Food Bank, Leominster Food Bank, Canterbury Food Bank, Hope for Belper, Diamond Hampers, One Can Trust, Purley Food Hub, Luton Foodbank, The Bay Foodbank, Sufra NW London, Collective Sharehouse, Earlsfield Foodbank, Basics Bank Southampton City Mission

For us in the IFAN core team, it was invaluable to meet our member organisations and have time for in-depth conversation and reflection. And it was immensely positive for different networks to be working together side by side for our common cause. We are, after all, calling for the same thing - a society where everyone can afford at least the bare essentials.

Will it have the impact we desire? A week later MPs voted to amend the Welfare Reform Bill. Whilst this was clearly driven by a number of factors, there’s no doubt that such a significant campaign moment, including the powerful stories from the frontline shared with so many MPs, must have had some impact (more on this in this JRF Linkedin post.)

And how can we keep the momentum going and ensure our voices stay loud and that the drumbeat doesn’t falter? We had an IFAN members’ meeting days after the lobby day and teams had already started working on ways to keep engagement going, from monthly meetings with MPs to doing more campaigning on social media. Follow-up sessions have been arranged, even with MPs that didn’t take part in the day itself, and visits have been arranged to food banks.

June’s hugely successful lobby day was just the beginning of a new phase of collectively calling for action. It’s clear that hundreds of people dedicated to providing charitable food aid support are equally dedicated to changing the status quo.