THREAD: Food poverty - the fightback. We can fight food poverty in our community and at national level. If you are wondering how to do it, here are some of the ways you can make a difference:

Imagine financial donations being used by food banks to distribute gift cards or cash payments. People can make their own choices as a result. Food banks are needed in the here and now but they’re not obliged to purchase food or distribute food parcels #CashFirst @IFAN_UK

This is a must-listen interview with @sabineegoodwin of @IFAN_UK. Someone needs to tell our misguided monarch that embedding charitable food aid will perpetuate both food poverty and food waste. Let’s tackle the root causes of each separately. #CashFirst

I always wanted to write a book and here it is!!! Women and Welfare Conditionality shows how women's lives are shaped by work and welfare laws past and present. Benefit sanctions don't work but do huge harm to women and children. @policypress @UofGUrbStudies @UofGlasgow

“Turning the tide on destitution is an urgent moral mission, which speaks to our basic humanity as a country, and we need political leadership for that mission.” ⁦@PaulKissack⁩ ⁦@jrf_uk⁩ ⁦@patrickjbutler⁩ #CashFirst #EssentialsGuarantee

Vital that the food waste and food poverty problems aren’t conflated. The Government’s first priority must be to ensure adequate incomes for people through social security payments or wages. Entrenching a charitable food aid response is ineffective and unsustainable #CashFirst

"However well-intentioned, the conflation of the food poverty and food waste problems further entrenches a two-tier food system in the UK meaning people impoverished by a broken system are having to make do with what’s leftover." @sabineegoodwin @BigIssue https://t.co/8o9sBufhSS

A Portuguese lesson on free school meals. Our Guardian letter on the urgent need for universal free school meals in the UK, based on our European research with children & families. https://t.co/3Gy0yX3Ihw @sfmtweet @MylesBremner @IanByrneMP @CRIPACC1 @juliabrannen1 #feedthefuture

It was a privilege to be invited to speak to @UsdawLearn reps this morning about the campaigns I am leading on in Parliament and why #RightToFood #HillsboroughLawNow & #RealTruthLegacyProject matter to all trade unionists. Thanks to Terry Adair & @usdaw for your superb support.

Thanks to everyone who supported our joint event at #Lab23 with @IFAN_UK on #cashfirst & ending the need for charitable food aid. It was a great event with a fantastic panel & very engaged audience asking excellent questions. Now for another day of conference! @GMPovertyAction

We were delighted to get the #CashFirst message across to delegates at our @GMPovertyAction @IFAN_UK #LabConf23 fringe event last night. Now heading down to the docks for a day of fringe meetings. Hoping to hear more about how we can drive down poverty & boost living standards.

At #LabourConference23 you can make your vote count for children. Reform of UC as a priority will help end the 2 child limit. Labour has a proud history of backing children and families. That last Labour government made a huge impact on child poverty. We can and must do it again.

Vital chance to get a focus on abolition of the two-child limit at #LabourConference23. Delegates, please vote to #ScraptheCap!

To hear Anas Sarwar pretending you can reduce child poverty without abolishing the two-child limit is deeply depressing. Ditching it would immediately lift 250,000 children out of poverty and reduce it for 800,000 more. It’s a no-brainer. #r4today

If you’re a delegate heading for #LabConf23, don’t forget to support our motion on the two-child benefits limit in the priorities ballot tomorrow! Vote for Reform of Universal Credit if you want to #scrapthecap

Fellow delegates, please remember to vote for Reform of Universal Credit in priorities ballot tomorrow 🙏 The two-child cap is immoral and wrong - #scrapthecap

Food banks do not provide solutions to hunger or poverty. Like other charitable food aid providers they can do no more than alleviate these deep-rooted problems. Systemic change will provide the solution @IFAN_UK #CashFirst

Looking forward to co-hosting this event in Liverpool at #labconf23 on Sunday afternoon alongside @GrahamWhitham @LauraBurgessGM @mariaammarshall @abbypreston01 #CashFirst

"an Essentials Guarantee would be a significant step on the road to closing the doors of food banks, for good. It would be an investment in dignity, security & aspiration" Excellent & vital piece from @jrf_uk's @PaulKissack & @TrussellTrust's @emmarevie

.@changing_r in the @guardian on all that was wrong with Hunt's speech "The solution isn’t squeezing people more, it’s fixing our public services, improving our social security system, making sure people can afford the essentials and giving people hope' https://t.co/LtLpkYu55i

🚨ONLINE EVENT🚨 @PovertyAlliance and @ScottishTUC are looking at how the wages of Scottish workers have been falling and consider how lack of employment income contributes to the injustice of poverty. #ChallengePoverty Register here: https://t.co/BuQPMSO34e