Simon Hughes Champions London Organisation

7.20.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 17th Jan 2005

Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey

Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey & President of the Liberal Democrats has taken up the battle for public funding of Bermondsey-based Fareshare.

FareShare is a national charity which offers an original and environmentally sound way of reducing the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. It does so by collecting surplus unused quality food from all areas of the food industry and delivering it to local charities which are registered with the programme.

FareShare accepts all kinds of food, including fresh, ambient and frozen, which is still within its use-by date, but no longer has a commercial outlet.

Unfortunately, funding has now been withdrawn by the government. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs claims that FareShare is just one of a number of small-scale projects which will lose funding under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (LTCS). Support for small charities such as FareShare is being replaced by support for larger projects, as the UK tries to meet its target of reducing the amount of food going to landfill by 60% by 2016.

Simon Hughes has taken the battle to Parliament and asked Environment ministers, why Fareshare has had its funding withdrawn with no notice or alternative. The Minister of State, Elliot Morley has promised to reply as soon as possible.

Simon Hughes said: "Bermondsey-based Fareshare offers an environmentally sustainable way of recycling surplus quality food. It also helps a large number of vulnerable people to have safe, cheap and good food."

"Not only has this government cut the charity's funding with almost no notice. It has also said no so far to any immediate alternative funding. This decision seems ludicrous, particularly because 1/3 of biodegradable waste is produced by the food industry."