BRADFORD Metropolitan Food Bank is facing a financial crisis due to the unprecedented demand for its services.

When it began 14 years ago, the food bank service distributed just 28 food parcels a month.

But that number has risen inexorably and now it hands out more than 1,000 food parcels a month to hard-up families.

That’s a massive increase and one which has left the food bank facing a financial headache of its own.

With demand outstripping supply the charity has been forced to use its own funds to buy in extra food.

Now, with money running short and demand expected to soar during the holidays – when parents won’t be able to rely on a free school meal for their children – officials fear the service will not be able to cope.

One in five people in the UK are living below the official poverty line so it shouldn’t be a surprise that hunger is a daily reality for millions of people.

This situation has become so dire that food banks have become the norm, not the exception.

If Britain can’t afford to provide a decent meal (or two) for the poorest in society then that’s a damning indictment of the world’s seventh largest economy.

However, until the Government takes the brakes off austerity (and that could be a long time yet depending, among other factors, on how we exit the EU) then people on the poverty line will have to rely on the generosity of folk who are better off than themselves.