SCOTTISH Labour’s deputy leader is under fire after seemingly suggesting more than half of the people in her constituency have been forced to use one food bank.
Speaking during the party’s conference in Dundee, Lesley Laird said that “almost 50,000 people” had received help from a food bank in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, which House of Commons statistics show has a population of approximately 90,000.
Speaking about austerity in Scotland and referencing the work of the Kirkcaldy Foodbank, Laird said: “Since December 2014, that food bank has distributed over 425,000 meals to almost 50,000 people. A statistic that should shame every one of us.”
It is believed, however, that the Labour MP confused the number of visitors with the numbers of visits.
The food bank’s records do refer to “people” when detailing figures on food packages. Yet the documents warn several times that this does not represent individuals. Instead, it represents the number of visits.
It states: “NB: this is not a count of individuals – if a person visits more than once they will be counted more than once.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman told The Herald: ““Ms Laird shows yet again that she has very little grasp of facts or figures. However in Scottish Labour she’s in good company.”
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