Under-fire Tory MP Lee Anderson offers ‘proof’ that meals can be cooked for 30p each

Tory MP Lee Anderson today hit back in the furious row over his claim there’s not a ‘massive use’ for food banks in Britain as he offered ‘proof’ that meals can be cooked for 30p each.

The Conservative backbencher provoked criticism from all political parties – including government ministers – after he suggested struggling Britons are only using food banks because they ‘can’t budget’ and ‘can’t cook a meal from scratch’.

He also invited fellow MPs to visit a ‘real food bank’ in his Nottinghamshire constituency that allowed people to ‘make a meal for about 30p’. 

The Ashfield MP has been widely condemend for the ‘cruel’ and ‘crass’ comments he made in the House of Commons.

But he has refused to backtrack and today instead doubled down on his claims.

In a post on his Facebook page, under-fire Mr Anderson insisted that many people had been asking him ‘how batch cooking works’ following his Commons remarks.

He shared a video to an event in November last year in which he joined a local food bank and a local college for a ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ challenge.

‘In this film we made 170 meals for 50 quid,’ the 55-year-old wrote, as he sought to back up his claims that meals can be prepared for 30p each.

‘This included a lunch and dinner, a breakfast of cereal and milk and enough milk, sugar and tea for a week.

‘I make no apologies for trying to help people fend for themselves by helping them learn the skills they need.’

Amid the row sparked by Mr Anderson’s Commons remarks, anti-poverty campaigners have pointed out that food bank users may not only be struggling financially but are also ‘time-poor’, without the ability to devote parts of their week to batch-cooking. 

Lee Anderson, pictured with fellow Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, took part in a ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ challenge in November last year

Mr Anderson said the event managed to create 170 meals for £50 as he sought to back up his claims that meals can be prepared for 30p each

The event, organised by a food bank and local college, saw organisers spend £50.24 on food for batch-cooking

In a post on his Facebook page, under-fire Mr Anderson insisted that many people had been asking him ‘how batch cooking works’ following his Commons remarks

Mr Anderson did a series of broadcast interviews today in which added to his claims that food bank use in Britain was ‘exaggerated’ and insisted that proper cooking lessons were needed to help ease the problem.

He told Times Radio: ‘Once somebody finds out they can cook meals relatively cheaply … a lot cheaper than spending money on frozen foods, and junk foods and takeaways and the chip shop … surely that’s got to be a winner.’

But critics continued to line up to question his interpretation of the problem. 

Prisons minister Victoria Atkins told Sky today his original comments were ‘absolutely not right’, adding: ‘I’ve spent my ministerial career working with very vulnerable people … cooking lessons will not be the complete solution to that.’

And Brexit Opportunities Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg last night declined to back him, telling ITV: ‘I don’t think it would be right for me to say something like that as I can’t cook myself. I would be guilty of a charge of hypocrisy if I were to make that statement.’

But Boris Johnson declined to join the criticism of Mr Anderson when asked about the row today. 

‘We’ve got to support people who are finding it tough in any way that we can,’ he said.

‘When it comes to supporting people who need food, families who are facing particular hardship, we’ve given extra money to councils and we will continue to do that.’

Pressed on whether the Ashfield MP was right to say people were using food banks because they can’t cook, the Prime Minister added: ‘The best answer for the problems of kids going hungry, which is in my view is totally unacceptable, of families not able to get the meals they need, is to do all the support we’re giving.

‘We will use maximum ingenuity and compassion throughout this period as we come through the post-Covid aftershocks, but also continue with our focus on high-wage, high-skill jobs. That is the thing that is really going to take this country forward.’

Mr Anderson, who earns £84,144 a year as an MP, caused uproar last night in a Commons debate on the Queen’s Speech. He is a former Labour councillor who defected to the Conservatives prior to his election to Parliament in 2019.

Addressing MPs on the Opposition benches, he urged them to ‘come to Ashfield and work with me for a day in my food bank and see the brilliant scheme we have got in place where when people come now for a food parcel, they have to register for a budgeting course and a cooking course’.

‘What we do in the food bank, we show them how to cook cheap and nutritious meals on a budget,’ he added.

‘We can make a meal for about 30 pence a day. And this is cooking from scratch.’

The blunt-talking Ashfield MP faced criticism from politicians, including ministers, this morning after remarks he made in the Commons yesterday

A former coal miner and ex-Labour member with a history of controversy 

Lee Anderson is a former coal miner, ex-Labour councillor and a committed Brexiteer.

The 55-year-old describes himself as ‘born and bred’ in Ashfield, the Nottinghamshire constituency he now represents in the House of Commons.

After leaving school, he followed his coalmining father into the pits, where he worked for 10 years.

According to a biography on his website, Mr Anderson then volunteered at a local Citizens Advice bureau, worked in hostels for homeless care leavers, and took a job in a local MP’s office.

He also became a local Labour councillor after being a lifetime party member.

A 2018 local newspaper report detailed how Mr Anderson was subject to an investigation by his fellow Labour councillors.

It came after he was issued with a community protection warning after placing boulders to deter travellers from setting up camp at a local site.

Mr Anderson soon defected to the Tories and was later elected a Conservative councillor.

Not long after, he was elected to Parliament as MP for Ashfield in 2019 as part of Boris Johnson’s 80-seat Tory majority.

His Westminster election campaign provoked a row after he claimed ‘nuisance’ council tenants should be forced to live in tents and pick vegetables.

It led to accusations he was promoting ‘forced labour camps’.

Mr Anderson was also criticised after being caught out setting up a door knock while canvassing.

He was revealed to have told a householder ahead of his visit: ‘Make out you know who I am, that you know I’m the candidate but not that you are a friend.’

After joining the Commons, Mr Anderson made headlines again when he announced he would not watch England matches during the Euro 2020 football tournament.

He explained this was due to players taking the knee before matches in an anti-racism gesture.

The MP voiced his opposition due to the association of the gesture with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last December, Mr Anderson was among Tory rebels to vote against ‘Plan B’ Covid restrictions.

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Labour MP Alex Cunningham intervened to ask Mr Anderson whether he thought it ‘necessary to have food banks in 21st century Britain’.

Mr Anderson replied: ‘He makes a great point and this is exactly my point.

‘So, I invite you personally to come to Ashfield, look at our food bank, how it works and I think you will see first hand that there’s not this massive use for food banks in this country.

‘But generation after generation who cannot cook properly, they can’t cook a meal from scratch. They cannot budget. The challenge is there. Come, come. I’ll offer anybody.’

Last night, as criticism started coming in, he issued a Facebook statement saying his comments had been misreported.

‘I did not say poor people cannot cook or there is no need for food banks. I said there is not the need currently being parrotted out by the MSM (mainstream media),’ he said.

‘Today I challenged the whole Parliamentary Labour Party to come to Ashfield to visit the food bank I work with. The give food parcels away on the condition the enrole (sic) for cooking and budgeting lessons.

‘I have done several events at the foodbank where we batch cooked food on a budget. My offer stands. Come to Ashfield.’ 

The Trussell Trust charity runs more than 1,400 food bank centres across the UK.

There are also estimated to be 1,200 independent food banks in addition to those run by the Trussell Trust, Salvation Army and those based in schools.

Responding directly to Mr Anderson’s comments in the Commons, the SNP’s Joanna Cherry said: ‘All of us have food banks in our constituency.

‘We don’t really need to visit his because we’re perfectly well aware of the requirement for them.

‘But the requirement for them is not because people don’t know how to cook, it’s because we have poverty in this country at a scale that should shame his Government.’

Karen Buck, Labour’s shadow work and pensions minister, said: ‘In the world where people actually live we now hear daily stories of families going without food and others unable to turn their ovens on in fear of rising energy bills.

‘The idea that the problem is cooking skills and not 12 years of government decisions that are pushing people into extreme poverty is beyond belief.

‘Out of touch doesn’t even cover it.’

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi also attacked Mr Anderson’s ‘astonishing’ remarks.

She posted on Twitter: ‘A genuinely astonishing comment from someone who represents an area with almost 30% of children living in poverty.

‘It would appear he has no clue of what life is like on the ground for so many of his constituents.’

Fellow Labour MP Angela Eagle said Mr Anderson’s comments were ‘crass and cruel in equal measure’.

However, fellow Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith defended his party colleague, insisting Mr Anderson was ‘absolutely spot on’. 

Mr Anderson caused the uproar after he claimed there was ‘not this massive use for food banks’ in Britain

The former Labour councillor defected to the Tories before his election to Parliament in 2019 as part of Boris Johnson’s 80-seat majority

SNP MP Joanna Cherry told Mr Anderson food banks were needed ‘because we have poverty in this country at a scale that should shame his Government’

Mr Clarke-Smith also highlighted a newspaper article from last year detailing how he and Mr Anderson had previously promoted a local food bank’s efforts to show how it was possible to feed a family of five for seven days for £50.24.

The Sunday Express article quoted Mr Anderson as saying he had no pretensions to being a ‘great cook’ but that he does not mind ‘having a dabble’. 

He added: ‘I was a single parent for about 17 years – two boys living with me, so you learn how to cook cheaply, learn how to cook nice meals and I enjoyed doing it.

‘This is all about tackling food poverty. It’s about people having nutritious meals.

‘It’s about tackling obesity as well. If you’re going to eat nutritious meals, the chance are you’re not going to be overweight.’

He was also backed by Conservative MP for Mansfield Ben Bradley, who said there is a problem with ‘basic education’ and numeracy skills.

Mr Bradley told Nottinghamshire Live: ‘People take Lee’s comments about a small group of people, and there is a cycle, he is absolutely right, about a small number, or a large number really, but a minority, of families and generations of poor education, poor basic skills around cooking and budgeting, if you don’t know as a parent how to do things and you find that cycle of poverty and it is important to break into that at some stage with the kind of education Lee is talking about.’

Last summer, Mr Anderson refused to watch England’s games at Euro 2020 in protest at the men’s national football team taking the knee before matches in an anti-racism stance.

The MP criticised the gesture’s association with the Black Lives Matter political movement.