-CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY-

Mary Creagh MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, speaking to Labour Party Annual Conference 2013 in Brighton, said:

Conference I want to talk about food.

I want to talk about David Cameron’s cost of living crisis and how it’s changing what we eat. I want to tell you what I’ve learned from the horsemeat scandal.

And I want to show you what Ed Miliband’s Labour government will do in 2015 to help people who work hard, pay their taxes, but who still have to put food back at the supermarket because their pay-cheque does not last until the end of the week.

Let’s start with David Cameron’s cost of living crisis. House of Commons figures show that the average family in my constituency,Wakefield, is £1700 a year, worse off since the general election.

Food bills, energy bills, water bills, up. Wages are flat.

That’s not right.

Nobody who works full time in the UK should have to live in poverty and watch their children grow up in poverty.

We know that people today are eating a worse diet than 5 years ago. People are trading down, eating more processed meat, and less fruit and veg. Yet they know they are still spending more on their food. And that sometimes there just isn’t enough money at the end of the week. Mums tell me they are skipping meals.

People who work should not have to rely on food banks to ensure their children get enough to eat.

Together with my shadow team we have visited food banks across the country.

I would like to take a moment to thank my great team: Huw Irranca Davies MP, Gavin Shuker MP, Barry Gardiner, Tom Harris – who has now left us – our team PPS Chris Evans MP and Whip Susan Elan Jones MP; and in the Lords Jim Knight and John Grantchester.

We have visited dozens of food banks and I have collected for them in supermarkets as well.

I have been humbled by the generosity of people, often with little themselves, donating to those less fortunate.

One woman told me she was donating food because she was afraid she might need it in future and she hoped people would help her out in her hour of need.

I am grateful that foodbanks exist. I want to thank the inspirational people who run them.

But - I am so angry at the injustice which leads them to exist: the inequality and poverty and desperation of the people they help.

The Tories just don’t understand food banks, do they?

Lord Freud says because food banks are free, there will be infinite demand. Doesn’t he know that people have to be referred to foodbanks by doctors, social services or charities?

Michael Gove says people have only themselves to blame for bad budgeting decisions.

But people are faced with impossible choices: the choice between keeping a roof over their heads or putting a loaf on the table.

And I want to put David Cameron straight on food bank use under his government.

In 2009/10, 41 thousand people used a food bank.

Last year that figure had risen to half a million people, a third of them children. That’s a tenfold increase.

No wonder he doesn’t want to talk about food banks.

But then David Cameron cooks the most expensive food in Britain at his home.

And he puts the Tory party begging bowl out when his guests are leaving.

He is the man whose “kitchen suppers” at number 10 raised a million pounds for the Conservative party.

I hope his guests used a long spoon.

Sometimes, I think about David Cameron’s kitchen suppers.

And then I think about Charles who I met recently at a food bank. Charles came home from hospital after his third heart operation. He had nothing to eat except white bread.

How can anyone recover from heart surgery with white bread?

Bread and margarine, the food of the poorest people in this country for decades.

Yet David Cameron wants to take the Vitamins A and D out of that margarine as part of his Red Tape Challenge.

Apparently, he thinks that adding vitamins to margarine is somehow “gold plating” regulation.

And if there’s one thing this government enjoys, it’s getting rid of environmental regulations.

David Cameron’s drive to deregulate the food industry, coupled with his cost of living crisis created the perfect conditions for the horsemeat scandal.

Deregulation, fewer trading standards officers and the end of food sampling meant it was open season. Horse meat was dripped into our food for 2 or 3 years by criminals who knew their chances of getting caught here were small.

Deregulation gave us horse meat in our burgers.

Deregulation.

Well conference, I think it’s time we had a bit more regulation of our food.

So here’s what Ed Miliband’s One Nation government will do. We want to tackle the cost of living crisis so people like Charles and everyone who struggles to make their paycheque last to the end of the week, can make their money go further.

We think it’s time that the supermarkets and the water companies stepped up to the mark.

So a One Nation Labour government will introduce new labelling rules so that you can work out if those two for one supermarket offers really are cheaper.

A One Nation Labour government will put a duty on water companies to have social tariffs to help the poorest families pay their water bills.

A One Nation Labour government will ban food from landfill so that less food gets wasted in the supermarket supply chain and more food gets eaten by hungry children.

We understand the challenges of rural living. We know that isolation can be a major problem. The frustration that farmers and businesspeople feel from poor mobile phone signals.

Yet this government’s botched rollout of broadband means people in the countryside are twice as likely to be offline as people in cities.

So a One Nation Labour government will extend broadband access so everyone has broadband.

When Labour was in government we led on environmental issues. With David Cameron in government it’s a few large companies who are now leading on environmental issues.

That’s just not right.

Which is why a One Nation Labour government will work with communities to introduce marine conservation zones to protect our fish stocks, improve biodiversity and stop the destruction of the seabed.

Which is why a One Nation Labour government will complete the coastal path around England because we want everyone to have access to our wild and special coast.

Which is why a One Nation Labour government won’t be rolling out the disastrous badger cull.

The UK’s food industry leads the world for quality, animal welfare, and value. But we must do more to help those struggling for a decent diet.

A decent diet in a 21st century advanced economy.

Who would have thought we’d be talking about British families struggling to put food on the table.

That’s the reality of David Cameron’s Britain.

Ed Miliband’s One Nation government will create an economy that works for working people, because we know if it works for working people then that economy will work for Britain.

We are ready to stand up against a government that gives a tax cut to millionaires and a pay cut for agricultural workers.

We are ready to stand up and speak out for consumers who are paying more and getting less.

We are ready to stand up for hard-up families who are tired of only just getting by.

Let’s get out there and show people that One Nation Labour is the change that the country needs.

Thank you.