Dear Editor,

Basingstoke Foodbank gave out over 8500 food supply packages last year.

It is a national scandal that a third of key workers, presumably including some in Basingstoke, have had to use food banks during the pandemic.

After everything they’ve done for us, they deserve a real-terms pay rise. I've had a poster in my window for months saying this.

But what we heard from the Prime Minister and Chancellor at the Conservative Party Conference this week is far from that.

Key workers kept us going through the darkest days of the pandemic and now they are facing a pay freeze, although they are still keeping us going.

When the supermarkets needed to be stocked, they were there. When the elderly in our community needed care, they were there. When our hospitals needed to be cleaned, they were there. And yet, key workers still earn eight times less than the national average.

This isn’t just about doing the right thing by our key workers. Analysis published by the TUC shows how the economic recovery can be sped up by reversing cuts to key workers’ pay, making pay rises for other workers more likely too.

Parliamentary constituencies will get an average economic boost of £6.2m if real terms pay cuts since 2010 are reversed.

We need our MPs to listen and say no to austerity - we all stand to gain from key workers receiving the pay rise they deserve.

Shelia Peacock, Warblington Close, Tadley.