Coventry MP Zarah Sultana visits foodbank after £10,000 crowdfund donation

Coventry MP Zarah Sultana is to volunteer at one of the city's foodbanks after a crowdfunding campaign she organised raised £10,000.

Coventry Foodbank has appealed for financial support after seeing demand increase in the city.

More than 2,500 people donated and the money raised equated to over five tonnes of food, the foodbank said.

In March, the Labour MP pledged to share her £2,200 pay rise between Coventry Foodbank and other charities.

The basic salary of MPs rose by 2.7% on 1 April to £84,144 a year - in the same week millions of workers saw their wages hit by a National Insurance increase.

Ms Sultana's salary donation will be paid in instalments over the year, with the first payments having been made, a spokesperson for the MP said.

Last month a 14th foodbank run by the charity opened in Coventry due to a rise in demand as the cost of living increase continue to bite.

Hugh McNeill, project manager at Coventry Foodbank, said he was "overwhelmed" by the £10,000 donation which had come at a "crucial time".

"We are increasingly concerned that we are seeing more first time users attending foodbank than at any time in our history, many of these people in work, but unable to make ends meet," he said.

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