SDLP Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Paul Doherty's tireless work in the field of hunger and poverty has won him a place on a prestigious new body being set up to combat nutritional injustice..
The Right to Food Commission has been launched by Labour Liverpool West Derby MP at Westminster.
Jointly established by the Right to Food Campaign, the University of Westminster, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), and the Food and Work Network, the Commission will seek to produce a roadmap to end hunger and foodbanks.
It will gather evidence, and seek submissions, from across Britain and the North, including in Liverpool, Newcastle, Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow.
Cllr Doherty is the founder of the Solidarity Hub and Foodstock and has devoted an enormous amount of time and energy in recent years feeding the hungry and working to empower individuals and communities to address social inequality.
Councillor Paul Doherty said: “The work of the Right to Food Commission couldn’t be more important and I’m delighted to have been asked to play my part and represent the North. Every day I see the hunger that exists in my community and it’s a similar situation in towns and cities across the North.
“This group of experts will listen to the lived experience of people who have been through poverty, who know what’s it like to not have enough money to put food on the table or to heat your home in winter. It’s crucial that policy is shaped by those who have been through it and I’m looking forward to working with them to design policy and legislation that addresses these issues, which impact thousands of people every single day.
“One of the first things I did after being elected as a councillor was to introduce a motion making Belfast a Right to Food city. Poverty is a result of political failure both in the Executive and at Westminster and I will be working with the Commission, as I do every day, to try and eradicate poverty and ensure that everyone can live with dignity.”
Ian Byrne MP, Vice Chair of the Commission, and Parliamentary lead of the national Right to Food Campaign, added: “I’m truly sorry we have had to launch the Right to Food UK Commission in Parliament and to push for essential Right to Food legislation. But, tragically, too many people in this country are going hungry and living in food insecure households and we need urgent action to end this situation.
“Our intention is that all evidence gathered by the Commission will strengthen our case for the need to end food insecurity and help provide a roadmap for the Right to Food to be legislated in the immediate future.”
