Our Demands
The Right To Food in Practice
This page explains in more detail what our demands mean in practice.
The Right to Food shifts the framing of food insecurity away from being an issue of charity and towards something that national and local government are accountable for.
The Right To Food looks to address the systemic barriers to basic human sustenance and it's means of production. It is empowering, not actively disempowering.
We need a reassessment of the Barnet Food Plan to align with the Right To Food principles through policy-making, investment and support, using a rights-based approach.
Cash First
A rights-based and empowering system means diverting money away from the charity and food bank model, towards a Cash First model.
Cash first models offer adequate, well-promoted and accessible cash payments to people in financial crisis via cash grants from the council as well as by existing food bank infrastructures as part of a just transition.
We need to see our councilors actively advocating for systemic changes that would see social security payments and wages match the cost of living and implementing any changes they can locally that promote these principles.
Barnet council employs over 1,500 workers who must be securely employed on real living wages, good terms and conditions and in parity with one another.
Universal
Free School Meals
We need to see the introduction of UFSM in all Barnet schools, to end the stigma for children and young people.
For some children and young people a school meal is the only meal they will have in a day and for many the only with any nutritional value. This must be recognised as the vital social protection it is.
There is no statutory guidance for councils so Barnet is free to make that decision and prioritise children's health and wellbeing.
We also need school catering to be brought back in-house to ensure secure, good, hot, affordable and culturally appropriate meals and secure employment for catering workers.
Food Justice Strategy
We need long-term investment in people and projects promoting localised food chains which empower communities to grow, share and educate about food on their own terms.
Farmland in London is predominantly present in 5 boroughs including Barnet. Approximately 17% of Barnet is farmland and a further 24% is green urban land. But how much of that food makes it's way into London and how much of that green urban land is utilised for local communities to grow?
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Local food producers must be subsidised to provide affordable and nutritious food to local people in Barnet and across London, reducing reliance on corrupt global agribusiness and increasing local sustainability and economic stability.
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Local communities must be given rights to use green urban land and public buildings to grow and share food together.
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Infrastructure must be set up to ensure good nutritious and culturally appropriate food is affordable and accessible in every community, combatting food deserts and an over-reliance on fast food.