International charity boss says Londoners in need of meals

Khalid Javid, says "we - collectively as UK, collectively as Londoners - should be able to support anyone and everyone who comes here"

The head of an international charity that helps refugees around the world with free meals to break their fasts during Ramadan says he never thought it would have to help people in London.

Muslim Aid's campaign primarily offers meals to refugees who "have nothing to eat" during the Muslim holy month.

This year it says it is giving 60,000 meals to anyone in need in the city.

CEO Khalid Javid said with the cost-of-living crisis affecting everyone, "this is where we're coming in".

He added the charity was trying to "bridge that gap".

The food parcels are given out mainly via mosques across the capital.

Mr Javid added that helping people in the UK was now one of its "strategic priorities" and the food parcels were for anyone in need "with faith and with no faith".

Meals have started to be sent out around Tower Hamlets, east London, where the local authority reports some of the highest levels of poverty in London.

The End Child Poverty charity also found Tower Hamlets had the highest child poverty rate of any local authority in 2021/22, at 47.5% compared to the rest of the region at 33%.

Food parcels being distributed from the East London Mosque

Mr Javid said the cost-of-living crisis and Covid had "escalated things a lot worse" in the capital.

He told the BBC: "Tower Hamlets is one of the most poorest boroughs in London.

'Humanise this whole situation'

"There is complexity as well around everything, you have the language difficulties, you have the influx of migrants here as well.

"But, putting all that to one side, we have to humanise this whole situation - and the basic needs of food, water, shelter, we - collectively as UK, collectively as Londoners - should be able to support anyone and everyone who comes here."

Xanda came to London from Iraq three years ago and thanked the charity for its help

Refugees at East London Mosque told the BBC they were "grateful" for the donations.

David is an asylum seeker from the Caribbean who came to the UK last year.

"It's a good thing, because a lot of asylum seekers - the funds that they'll get are like £10 a week - sometimes they need something extra to eat," he said.

"A lot of people is not getting the support they need so they come here and they reach out to charity because a lot of people say they get more help from charity than they do get from the government."

The End Child Poverty charity found Tower Hamlets topped the list of local authorities with the highest child poverty rates in 2021/22

Xanda arrived as a refugee from northern Iraq with her family three years ago and thanked the charity for the food parcels they were distributing.

"I would like to say thank you so much for all of them," she said.

Muslim Aid has been in operation for 38 years, and says it helps people in 72 countries around the world.

Tower Hamlets Council has been approached for comment.

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