A group of priests found themselves on the wrong end of the law after staff members working on behalf of David Cameron contacted the police after they tried to deliver a letter about food poverty to his constituency office.

Reverend Keith Hebden, a spokesperson for the End Hunger Fast campaign, visited Cameron’s constituency office in Whitney with the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend John Pritchard to deliver the letter which described food poverty as a national crisis.

The letter was signed by more than 600 clergy, including 45 bishops.

Nobody answered the door and police arrived just minutes later.

The letter had been delivered to all of the main leaders of the three dominant political parties in England, however, Cameron’s office was the only one to call the police, according to the End Hunger Fast charity.

The letter urged the government to ensure that work pays, food markets support sustainable and healthy diets, and that the welfare system helps to support impoverished people who are unable to work.

Rev. Hebden told Al Jazeera: “Summoning the police like that illustrates the sense of panic in this government about rising food poverty levels because they are in such denial about this problem.”

Hebden pointed out that the police left very soon after realising that no crime had been committed.
The letter coincides with the release of data by the Trussell Trust, the UK’s biggest food bank network, which reveals that more than 900,000 people received food parcels in 2013-14 – which represents a 163% increase.

In the letter, the religious leaders, said: “Hope is not an idle force. Hope drives us to act. It drives us to tackle the growing hunger in our midst. It calls on each of us, and government too, to act to make sure that work pays, that food markets support sustainable and healthy diets, and that the welfare system provides a robust last line of defence against hunger.”

Recent figures from the Trussell Trust charity have revealed that nearly a million Brits are forced to survive on food bank donations every year.

This has been largely attributed to the rising costs of living, cuts to social security and low-pay.

The report underlines the plight of the working poor – those who are in full-time employment, but simply do not make enough money to pay bills, and feed their families because of low wages.

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