Labour MP Deirdre Costigan has praised the work of Ealing Foodbank after visiting its Southall centre with the Mayor of Ealing, saying Labour’s expansion of free school meals and breakfast clubs should help reduce the number of families forced to rely on emergency food support.
Costigan, the MP for Ealing Southall, joined Mayor of Ealing Councillor Faduma Mohamed at Ealing Foodbank’s centre at St Anselm’s RC Church, where they met staff, volunteers and residents using the service. The Southall site is the busiest of Ealing Foodbank’s eight centres across the borough.
Costigan said:
“Labour has lifted thousands of kids out of poverty & our free school meals & breakfast clubs mean fewer families rely on foodbanks.”
Foodbank supports residents facing crisis
Ealing Foodbank was established in 2013 and provides emergency food to people referred through local agencies. It currently operates eight centres across Ealing and provides support six days a week.
The Southall centre at St Anselm’s provides emergency food to people experiencing financial crisis, while the wider foodbank service also works with organisations offering debt and housing advice.
During the visit, Costigan and Mohamed met representatives from Crosslight Debt Advice and Ealing Law Centre, which work alongside the foodbank to help residents address some of the underlying causes of financial hardship.
Emma Leahy of Ealing Foodbank said the charity’s work went beyond providing food parcels, with debt advisers and housing specialists helping residents move towards greater financial security.
Labour expands free school meals
Costigan’s intervention comes as Labour expands access to free school meals.
From the beginning of the 2026-27 academic year, all children in England living in households receiving Universal Credit are entitled to free school meals, widening eligibility beyond the previous system.
The Government says the change is intended to reduce child poverty and ensure more pupils receive a nutritious meal during the school day.
Breakfast clubs rolling out nationally
Labour is also rolling out free breakfast clubs in state-funded schools with primary-aged pupils.
The Government has committed an additional £80 million to expand the programme to another 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027, with the long-term aim of providing a free breakfast club in every state-funded primary school in England.
The Department for Education says the programme is designed to break down barriers to opportunity, support parents into work and tackle the effects of child poverty.
Costigan has repeatedly raised food poverty
Costigan has previously spoken in Parliament about the impact of food poverty in Southall.
In a Commons debate last year, she described visiting St Anselm’s foodbank and seeing the distress of parents who were working but still unable to make ends meet. She argued that many families turning to foodbanks were not unemployed, but were struggling with low wages, insecure work and the cost of living.
Her latest visit therefore continues a longstanding focus on food insecurity and poverty in her constituency.
Reducing reliance on foodbanks
Costigan’s message is that foodbanks continue to play an essential role for people facing crisis, but that the broader goal should be to reduce the number of families who need them in the first place.
For Labour, the expansion of free school meals and breakfast clubs is being presented as part of that wider effort — easing pressure on household budgets, tackling child poverty and giving families greater security.
