Last week David Cameron spoke at a reception of Church leaders at No 10 Downing Street. He spoke about the Big Society and said “if there are blockages, if there are things that are stopping you doing more, think of me if you like as a sort of giant Dyno-Rod in Whitehall: I want to make it easier, I want to unblock the things that help you do what you do. So please let’s do that.” According to the Dyno Rod website their motto is “Trust Dyno to fix your home dramas” The Question is can we Trust Dave to fix our national dramas? This morning we have heard that the number of people benefiting from Trussell Trust foodbanks has increased by 30% to 1M people. That is one person in 60 who has used a Trussell Trust foodbank in the last year. There are also foodbanks run by other charity networks and indeed some are actually run by local government through childrens centres.

On 2nd May 2010 David Cameron spoke on the eve of the election “I want to if I am elected take the whole country with me. I don’t want to leave anyone behind. The test of a good society is you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest in our society. And that test is even more important in difficult times, when difficult decision have to be taken, than it is in better times”

A few months ago I met with a senior person within the Conservative Party. He was explaining to me that the comments by the Archbishop of Westminster in his last speech before being elevated to being a Cardinal, and a letter by 40 Bishops and Senior Clerics were misguided and inaccurate. He pointed out that none of the people in Hospital who were malnourished, were there as a result of lack of food in the house. They were all malnourished due to their inability to feed themselves for other reasons. He also explained that the Government was disappointed that before making these comments, these 40 people had not contacted the Government to explain what they were wanting to say. I have no reason to believe his facts are wrong. I work closely with senior Church Leaders. Drawing together a joint letter as those 40 leaders did, and today 500 Church Leaders has, depends on getting general agreement to a letter that is more about tone than precision. It is impossible for all 500 people to have checked their letter! In the same way a reception at Downing Street for Faith Leaders (I attended a similar one when Gordon Brown was PM) is not an easy time to challenge Politicians or Policy.

Here we are 6 weeks from a European Election, 13 months from a General Election. I watch some of the Conservative Party twitter accounts and the current theme seems to be to rubbish the Labour Party at a local level (check out Esther McVey during the Hillsborough Service) and big up the idea of a European Union Referendum at a national level. These are very disturbing messages from a Party that has largely ignored foodbanks, with meetings with the Trussell Trust and Government being organised only under great pressure. We desperately need David Cameron to make good on his promises of May 2010 and also to show he can be a Dyno Rod like he suggested last week. The pressure on foodbanks demands a response to 1M people in our nation. People who are being referred to the foodbanks by Job Centres, Social Services and others. It is time this increasingly out of touch Government and its major party put aside its desire to be elected in an election next month, let alone to be elected next year and focused on the acute need in many of our communities, which is expressing itself through this entirely unsustainable network of local charities. Statements about what welfare reform is achieving will simply not cut it.