A Plaid Cymru AM has asked for support to be given to a network of food banks that have been established in Wales to donate emergency food to people in desperate need.

During plenary at the Senedd, South Wales Central AM Leanne Wood praised the Trussell Trust which runs ten food banks across Wales, including in Tylorstown and Pontyclun.

The trust, which donates three days’ worth of nutritionally balanced food to applicants, plans to establish another ten food banks in response to demand.  They recently run an appeal to boost the stock of non-perishable food held at the Tylorstown food bank.

During her supplementary question, Leanne Wood asked for funding to be given to the food bank network in order to take the strain off “what is essentially an emergency service run on a voluntary basis.”

Later she added: “I confess to having mixed feelings about these food banks because on the one hand they are helping people who are in desperate need but on the other hand it is appalling that there is a need for such a network of support in Wales in 2010.

“This is the true legacy of a Tory government because large parts of Wales have never recovered from the Thatcher years.

“For all their claims that the party has now changed, I believe a UK Government led by David Cameron would see a significant expansion of the food bank network as I believe they will continue to serve the interests of the privileged few.”

Business and Budget Minister Jane Hutt, who was deputising for First Minister Carwyn Jones, welcomed the contribution of the food bank network in her answer and said a link with the food-cooperative network – which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and charges a small fee for a bag of locally grown fruit and vegetables – was being explored.

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