SIR – Increasing numbers of people in the UK are unable to afford enough food to feed their families, and are turning to food banks for help. And across the world, nearly a billion people don’t have enough to eat.

Meanwhile banks and hedge funds are fuelling high food prices by speculating on the price of basics like wheat, maize and soy, and making millions in profit. Food speculation can be curbed through regulation, but the UK Government has attempted to block new rules proposed by the EU.

George Osborne has the power to reverse the UK’s position and stop banks betting on hunger. Will he make the right decision and put the world’s hungry people before the profits of banks like Goldman Sachs?

Brenda Brown, Kirkgate, Shipley