A former Leeds MP has said the growth of foodbanks in Britain marks a return to the Victorian workhouse.

Speaking to the Star yesterday John Battle claimed that the parcelling out of food in the way that is happening in Britain today “marks a move back to the poor law and ends at the workhouse.”

The Trussell Trust, which runs a network of foodbanks, has published figures showing that 913,000 people went to foodbanks in the last 12 months.

Former Labour MP Mr Battle will chair a Leeds Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission conference in Leeds at the end of February titled: “Is a foodbank justice?”

The commission has been compiling data from parishes about who gives to foodbanks, who works in them and goes to them.

“We have been finding the Catholic church has stepped into the gap left by the removal of the welfare state,” said Mr Battle, who described going to a foodbank as a demeaning experience for people.

“I’ve seen people I know completely humiliated by it. It is like looking at people in a prison camp, completely reduced to nothing.”

Mr Battle warned against the institutionalisation of foodbanks as has happened in Canada over the past 30 years.

He pointed out that in Canada foodbanks have grown, with supermarkets becoming involved.

“Foodbanks have become institutionalised as an alternative to the welfare state,” he said.

Mr Battle said the real issue is low pay, with the rich getting richer and the poor poorer.

“This cannot be allowed to go on, with the poor effectively being left to pick up the scraps from the rich man’s table,” he said, pointing out that many of those using foodbanks were on zero-hours contracts.

He called for the living wage and protection of the welfare state.