Foodbank use reaches one million as UK parties spar over poverty

London

THE number of Britons receiving emergency food handouts has grown for a 10th year, according to a report that threatens to reignite the election debate over who is benefiting from the economic recovery.

More than one million people in the past 12 months used foodbanks provided by The Trussell Trust, which runs about half the centres in the UK, the charity said on Wednesday. The figure, which counts those who have received at least three days' emergency food, is up from 900,000 a year earlier and 41,000 before Prime Minister David Cameron took office in 2010.