The plight of destitute asylum seekers will be highlighted as two women try to live off £5 and a Red Cross food parcel each in one week.

Judy Midgley, of Sandbeds, near Keighley, and Sister Mary Horan, of Bradford, will allow themselves to eat only the meagre supply of food in the charity parcel.

And £5 is the only money the two can spend.

The challenge is being tackled in a bid to live the lives of those who have been refused asylum in the UK.

The seven-day task begins on Monday and will take the women into the first week of Advent.

Mrs Midgley said she had taken on the task as a milestone for herself and to highlight the problems experienced by those who are refused asylum but say they cannot return to their own countries because of the dangers they would face.

"The extent of the problem is due to get severely worse," she said.

Mrs Midgley said Govern-ment plans to withdraw or refuse asylum to people fleeing Iraq will have a big effect on the Bradford district.

"That will mean at least 200 people in Bradford and between 1,200 and 1,400 in the district," she said.

"That's not good for them, nor is it good for Bradford."

Mrs Midgley said those who are not granted asylum and who cannot return to their own countries are stuck in a vicious cycle of poverty because they cannot legally work.

"Christmas is about a family of asylum seekers, they claimed asylum in Egypt," said Mrs Midgley, adding that it was a particularly poignant time of year to take on such a challenge.

The project, titled Living Ghosts, was organised by Church Action on Poverty.

It has also distributed campaign action cards which will be collected and presented to the Home Office in London in the new year.

Its chairman, Anne Forbes, said: "As a society we have international moral and legal responsibilities to provide subsistence for asylum seekers.

"It is an international disgrace that the UK Government allows some asylum seekers to end up destitute."

A Living Ghosts vigil will end the food parcel week.

The event will be held just off Market Street, near Centenary Square, Bradford, at 5pm on Saturday, December 3.