Tory leadership hopeful claimed Labour hushed up food banks in office yet none existed in Newcastle until 2011
Tory leadership hopeful Jacob Rees-Mogg has been slammed for claiming the esistence of food banks was hushed up by Labour in office.
Michael Nixon, Chief Executive of Newcastle's West End Food Bank which is the largest in the country, said: "You can't hide something that didn't exist in the first place."
Labour was ousted after the 2010 general election and replaced by a Conservative-led Coalition.
In 2015 the Tories formed a minority government.
Mr Nixon said: Our food bank was formed late in 2012 and opened its doors in March, 2013."
And we can also reveal that all of the other Trussell Trust food baks in the region - Gateshead, Walker and District and Durham - opened after Labour left office.
Mr Nixon siad: "Jacob Rees Mogg is just wrong. He's running for leadership and trying to get a few sound bites out."
Rees-Mogg, the North East somerset MP and grassroots favourite who is being tipped to replace Theresa May, made his comments during an interview on LBC radio.
He said: "Food banks pre-date the Conservative government and crucially, the change that took place was that the Conservative government allowed Jobcentre Plus to tell people that food banks existed.
"And the former Labour government would not tell them - and that was a policy decision to stop people knowing that there was help available."
Rees Mogg also said: "I think there is good within food banksand the real reason for the rise in numbers is that people know they're there, and Labour deliberately wouldn't tell them."
Mr Nixon said the church which had lobbied for the Welfare State to be formed was now having to step in as it "being dismantled" and a vital safety net for the poor is being lost.
"The church has recognised these failings and Food Banks have come about as a necessary response to need," he said.
Since it opened in 2013, the West end food Bank has given out food at an average rate of £10,000 a week.
The director of 'I, Daniel Blake' Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty visited it and shot scenes in Venerable Bede church where food parcels are distributed. People who rely on the food bank and volunteers who help run it featured as extras.
Durng the interview Rees-Mogg argued food banks fulfilled a vital function.
He said: "I don't think the state can do everything.
"It tries to provide a base of welfare that should allow people to make ends meet during the curse of the week, but on some occasions that will not work.
"And to have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens, I think is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are."
Mr Nixon said food bank use has spiralled "in the last five or six years".
He added: "We don't want to have to be here, we're not political animals. We don't care which party sorts out the problem so long as it is sorted out."