I am grateful to Trish Cockayne and Jeff Skinner (Letters, 16 December) for their kind words following my letter (14 December). I believe them when they refer to the actions that the Trussell Trust is taking vis-a-vis universal credit and the five-week delay. I would make two points. First, it is more than just the five-week delay; it is sanctions, the gig economy and a minimum wage that is too low.
The Trussell Trust may be discretely campaigning on these issues, but it needs to be shouted loudly from the rooftops, both locally and nationally. Second, I have been informed in no uncertain terms by the (paid) manager of my local (Trussell Trust) food bank, that the “food bank must remain neutral”. If so, how does that square with holding our MPs to account and campaigning on anything at all? I will start volunteering again when I see evidence that the campaigning is not just against the government, which is often a seen as some distant and non-political entity, but against this cruel Tory government.
Janice Gupta Gwilliam
Norton, North Yorkshire
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
