My MP is a Conservative. I am a Socialist & would never vote Tory - ever. So already I don't feel represented by them. The few times I've contacted them previously, I have received generic party-line responses, which is disheartening. Secondly, even though I m a Socialist - I am not against people being wealthy. What I am against is the taxation system not being equitable. Poorer people bear a disproportionately higher tax burden compared to wealthier people, not by direct income tax, but mainly through poverty premiums - when they pay more for essential goods & services due to their location or lack of income. Furthermore, there is far more tax avoidance than there is benefit fraud, but we in receipt of Social Security are demonised far more than those who avoid paying their fair share. What dismays me the most is that my MP voted against free school meals for children in the holidays, thus contributing to worsening holiday hunger. I feel their stance was totally unjust given the ever-increasing wealth gap between rich & poor. I want to remind my MP that the centre of their constituency is extremely deprived, unable to withstand the ever-increasing tide of the cost of living crisis, whilst the more comfortable & well-off are high enough above the waterline to withstand the oncoming tsunami. We are in the same storm but not all of us has access to a suitable boat to survive. Help support us so we can not only survive, but thrive - it's the right thing to do, not as a politician, as a compassionate human being. Redesign the Social Security system so it works for everyone if they fall on hard times. In addition - I want to remind my MP that those of us living in desperate times didn't plan to be living this life. Absolutely anyone can be swept into poverty through circumstances beyond their control - even them. For me it was escaping domestic abuse whilst on unpaid maternity leave, becoming homeless & having to live in a hostel with my 3 children back in 2005. I tried to go back to work but became permanently disabled in 2011. I'm still trying to hang on in 2023. How can that be right? Yet even though I cannot work, I am still worthy of respect, support & have worth. I am a former Registered General Nurse with a wealth of knowledge, skills & expertise that I can impart to anyone prepared to listen. I also have 3 children who are contributing members of society - my eldest son, now 26 is an technician in the RAF. My middle son is 24 & has 2 jobs whilst he pursues his dream of being a musician with his band. My youngest son, now 18, even though disabled himself, is still studying for a career in welding at the local college & hopes to go into the industry. Support your constituents rather than sanction them. We need stability & security, not sticking plaster solutions. We need you to understand the intersectionality between poverty, health, ethnicity, disability, family breakdown & crime. By solving poverty through fully impact-studied, well considered design, you may find that citizens' physical & mental health improves overall and some folk less inclined to resort to desperate measures to survive. Now that would be an achievement to be proud of.

I had a job, but had to move away from my home town with my daughter due to domestic violence.

After 6 weeks the wages dried up and I was forced to claim benefits.

I had no idea where the job centre was based in an area I knew nothing about. The village was rural and the council office only opened part time. I had no house phone and no credit on my mobile.

I was told by a benefit advisor to walk 6 miles to the nearest town to the job centre, I didn't know which direction.

I went home and sobbed out of despair. I left a violent situation and nobody cared if we went hungry.

Word must have got out as 3 ladies from Gingerbread appeared at our door the next morning offering a food parcel and support with benefit claiming. They took me through application forms step by step. It took 12 weeks to sort out all benefit entitlement. I am grateful for this charity.

Weather is slightly warmer and boy are we grateful, it’s been a long cold winter. The kids are finally able to work off some energy. I’m really hoping that food prices become lower because we can’t keep up with inflation and the kids are hungry and I know that running around and being kids for a while is fantastic it also means the kids want to eat more. The scales never seem to balance.

The heartbreak of every service children would usually be allowed to receive, funding as an excuse and accepted. It goes against children and families 1989 law, best endeavours to ensure children have the best possible life.

Try to get them the best life but how can we? Assessments needed are assessments needed. I assess them hungry, I could excuse money for not ensuring that’s happening.

Plans to scrap [insert pension related thing here] scrapped due to backlash,

I've seen five such articles in the last week. So backlash over largely conservative voters means the government will backtrack but not stuff that effects largely labour or lib dem voters like the recent budget that punishes the more vulnerable with additional vulnerability.

I laid awake in bed last night, cold sweat panic of being forced to look for work again, these last two and half months of being on LCWRA had given me a false sense of security that the government would finally let me focus on healing, focusing on being well enough to be able to work. I look forward to being able to work again one day, I don't know when yet, could be a few years cos treatment doesn't happen overnight and is a process. But if I have too look for work or forced into work while seeking treatment it will jeopardise my healing process with additional stress. There is literally no job I can do safely with my mental health as it currently in, I'd pose a health and safety hazard, be a risk to myself my colleagues and potential clients/customers. No one will employ me and no special measures, besides having a constant supervisor assigned to insuring I'm safe and well every few minutes will enable me to work as things currently stand. I'm not even able to safely care for my children until after treatment due to how my mental health poses a risk to their development and welfare. I get a lot of support from social services and a lot of access to my children cos social see me as sick and vulnerable and deserving of help, but while I'm deemed too ill to care for my kids the gov thinks me and people like me can work. I wish I could, I'd love to role model that to my kids, and one day I will. But I can't run before I can walk. Its mental. I dread the utter desperation if hunger and cold, after my childhood trauma such retriggering makes self harm and suicidal thoughts stronger. I'm fine, safe, right now but if things keep on getting worse and more unsafe (like it's mental that people like me aren't safe in our own country, not safe from hunger or cold or starvation, like this is Britain FFS, how can government do this to its own people!), If things keep getting worse then how will my mental health ever get better if I can't just focus on healing for a short time. In the factor of my life, a few years out if the workforce to heal is small compared to lifetime out of work cos no one will employ me. Sometimes it feels like the government is just trying to kill off as many poor and vunerable persons that it can, cheapest way to lower their unemployment rates if we're dying. And loads of evidence that mental illness lowers life expectancy, as does stress and hunger and cold.

As for sanctions, they're disgusting, Government sanctioned torture. We've clearly never moved on from Victorian punish the poor mentality and it shows.

Today was a good day for my kids but a bad day for me.

They was invited to a birthday party at a really cool arcade, it's a place where we could never afford to go with it costing £18 per wrist band so I was so glad they had the opportunity to attend, due to the type of place the parents had to stay to keep an eye on their children. Food was provided for them... But not the adults (fair enough) however all the other adults bought their own food from the venue. I had £2 in my bank and the cheapest thing was £4 so I had to pretend I wasn't hungry even though I was ravenous, luckily the kids left a few nachos so I ate those.

While I was sat there literally eating scraps I looked around at the other families who wasn't at the party but were enjoying the venue and the happiness in the kids faces and I felt terribly sad, there's no way on earth I could EVER take my kids to places like this.

My heart hurts because they miss out on so much because we can't afford it, their lives must be so mundane.

The thing is my husband works a 54 hour week so why can't we afford to do something fun each weekend. It's just not right.

My stomach is giving me pain today.

Indigestion. Lower left abdominal pain.

Nauseous.

Cutting back on food again. I'm filling up on porridge for all meals. It stops the hunger but I'm so bloated.

Checked bank account in hope of a miracle.

No child maintenance payment again.

My mum makes a very filling meal and it lasts for a few days and you can make a lot. She used to feed 3 of us and herself with it and we would be stuffed, it's tin of corned beef, salad cream and spaghetti sticks or fusilli pasta. Boil the pasta as usual, while that's cooking just before it's fully cooked heat up the corned beef and then drain the pasta and add the corned beef and the salad cream and pasta together sprinkle with cheese and dinner is served. It's still a favourite of mine but it's not for everyone. My child hates it but she's a fussy eater, everyone else I've given it to have loved it.

I buy my child healthy food and try hard to be able to cook her healthy meals I don't really eat a lot myself because sometimes I don't have enough for myself as well or I'm just too stressed out and can't eat from stress but it is getting harder with the prices rising and I'm stuck depending on my family and friends sometimes but I hate to ask for myself but as long as my child isn't hungry and she's happy and healthy then that's how it's gonna be because I'd rather be hungry than her being hungry.

Honestly it’s very hard. I want to give the kids a lovely Christmas, and I don’t want them to worry or miss out. But at the moment I’m skipping meals to save money - grocery bills are massive - and it isn’t possible to figure out gifts and Christmas treats. I’ve only been able to get my kids one proper present each this year. I’m hoping wider family will be able to give them things too but it’s painful to know that I can’t. It’s meant to be such a happy time and I’m just hungry, and worried.

Free school meals do make a difference to some degree. My youngest is in year 6 and at his school there is no choice menu so he has to eat what he is given. Sometimes there are things he doesn't like. He says the portion sizes in year 6 are no bigger than those provided to pupils in year 1, so often comes home hungry. The only alternative is to send him with a packed lunch, which ends up costing more than a school dinner would. My eldest is in secondary school but refuses to eat school meals. He is autistic and has lots of sensory issues when it comes to food. So I have to send him with a packed lunch every day. However, I am grateful for the free school meals.

Hi, I am on Universal Credit at present, and don't work at the moment. I have a 7 year old son, who currently receives Free School meals.

He has his breakfast at around 7am, and then his school dinner at around 11.30am, which means that after his breakfast, he doesn't get to eat for 4 and a half hours. Within this nearly 5 hour window, my son is burning off loads of energy at school both mentally and physically, and hence, when it comes to lunch time he is usually really hungry.

However, whilst I am grateful that my son does get free school meals, he often tells me that the meal he received was in no way filling, and that the portion sizes of the food are fairly small, hence he is still hungry after the meal, because it is not fulfilling enough.

Because of this, what I have started doing is making sure that I arrive at the school gate at home time with a homemade sandwich, a piece of fruit, and anything else I can pack for him in my handbag which is compact enough for me to take with me to the school-run, because he is usually still very hungry at this point. The food I bring tends to satisfy his hunger enough until we reach home.

My son really appreciates my new strategy, and is always super excited to see me at home time because he knows that I'll be armed with food for him.

The only downside, is that throughout the day, I often worry about how hungry he is, and wished I could do more to help him during the school day, like provide him with some extra food to take with him in the morning, which he can also eat alongside his free school meal, but currently the school do not allow this. Children are either on a packed lunch because their parents work, or they get free school meals because their parents don't work, or can also get them if their parents work but, they have to pay £15 per week per child, which I think is quite expensive, especially if the parents are on a low income.

There is no in-between. Hence, I think that Free School meals do make a difference because at least our children don't starve whilst they are at school, but, I think that parents should be given more choices regarding what their children eat at school lunch time, whether they are working or not.

Wide awake at 3:48am.

I am feeling hungry and cold.

It's 10° but feels much colder.

I'm not exactly withering away, but I want food. I had a pot noodle for my tea yesterday.

Scrolling through Facebook and torturing myself seeing others on holiday. As if the Cost of Living crisis isn't happening for them.