Halton MP Derek Twigg has welcomed a £15m fund to help redistribute the equivalent of an extra 60 million meals in surplus food to those who need it most.

The Government announced the extra cash at the recent National Farmers Union (NFU) Conference recently in an effort to help tackle food poverty and cut down on waste.

Mr Twigg is a long-standing supporter of FareShare's campaign to secure the money, which will result in the equivalent of 60 million meals being delivered via community organisations to people worst affected by the rising cost of living. FareShare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, and in Halton last year delivered the equivalent of 32,400 meals via seven local charities.

Mr Twigg said: "This is a huge victory for front line community groups who desperately need more food to meet the increase in demand for their services.

"This newly announced funding will go towards supporting the thousands of local charities that use surplus food to help strengthen their community. All of this food would otherwise have gone to waste, and it is right that it will now go to feed people instead."

Despite record amounts of food entering FareShare’s network, the charity said it still does not have enough food to meet the demand caused by the cost of living crisis. But it is hoped the funding will help provide more food via the charity by making it cost-neutral for farmers and food businesses to redistribute their surplus.

The funding should mean 25,000 tonnes of food will be redistributed from farms and food businesses instead of being wasted. Those behind the scheme said it has the potential to prevent the wasteful emissions of over 50,000 tonnes of CO2e and could generate over £68 million in social value.

George Wright, CEO of FareShare, said: "We are thrilled that after years of campaigning from FareShare and the Felix Project, the Government will be committing £15m towards food surplus redistribution, getting good-to-eat surplus food from our farms to people who need it instead of letting it go to waste."

He added: "We would not have been able to achieve this without the support from the public, donors, partners and MPs, all of whom have played a part in securing this significant step forward. I’m incredibly grateful to Derek for his support."