Ian Byrne – MP for Liverpool West Derby, Co-Founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks & Hillsborough Survivor (#19)

Episode 19 of the Money Made Human podcast features Ian Byrne, MP for Liverpool West Derby, Co-Founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks and Hillsborough Survivor.

Ian is a tireless advocate for social justice and co-founded the Right to Food UK Commission in November 2025, an independent body developing a roadmap for legislation aimed at ending hunger in the UK by 2035. He is also the co-founder of Fans Supporting Foodbanks, a charity mobilising football fans to tackle food insecurity in their communities.

In this episode, host Gayle Lloyd speaks with Ian about his upbringing in Liverpool, the influence of football and trade unions on his values, and the impact of deindustrialisation on his hometown. They also discuss significant moments such as the Hillsborough Disaster and the resulting Hillsborough Law, and explore the role of credit unions and community organisations in creating positive societal impact.

Key topics in this episode include:

• Ian’s upbringing in Liverpool and early influences
• The role of football and trade unions in shaping his values
• The Right to Food UK Commission and its mission to end hunger by 2035
• Fans Supporting Foodbanks and the charity’s work in communities
• The Hillsborough Disaster and Hillsborough Law
• The societal impact of credit unions

Join us for a thoughtful conversation on social justice, community action, and the power of football and cooperative institutions to make a difference.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Money Made to Human Podcast. It celebrates at its heart the work of credit unions and their vital roles in enriching our lives and communities. Brought to you by First Class Credit Union. Each episode features insightful discussions revealing the meaningful impact that can be made through economic collaboration. Mostly, it's a collection of compassionate conversations about navigating life and the individual journeys we take. Welcome, Ian. Ian, we're so excited to be able to speak to you and your career and all that you've achieved. And I suppose I wanted to start by saying that we're based in Glasgow and Glasgow and Liverpool have such affinity together. And I just wondered if you had any experience of Glasgow and what you would say to that.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Oh yeah, definitely long connections with Glasgow, both to uh football. Uh I'm a big uh Liverpool fan, uh as people might know, uh, but also huge Celtic fan as well. Okay. Uh so I've been down to Celtic Park a few times. I've been to watch Liverpool, uh, I've been to watch Celtic. I've actually been to Rangers as well. Uh so football is a big part of uh our life uh up here, and obviously with what we've done with fan support and food banks with both Rangers and Celtic. Uh so I've been to uh Glasgow on a on a number of occasions, and it's a city uh which I love because it faces many of the same issues and problems that uh Liverpool faces, but also they're extremely close uh with regards how they are, how they've been built, really, how Glasgow and Liverpool have come come together on the edge of uh rivers. Uh so they're very, very close, I think, both culturally uh but also from life experiences, both uh working class cities.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

We have a phrase locally that people make Glasgow, and I guess you could say the same for Liverpool.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Yeah, no, I think that's uh I think that's right. Uh and we'll probably touch on it as we go on, but we're actually in Glasgow uh in May with the Bike to Food Commission, so we're looking forward to that as well.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Oh, perfect. Ian, so much to talk to you about, and I'd love to explore, as you were just saying, about fan supporting food banks, your career as an MP. You're a Hillsborough survivor as well, and also you are doing a lot of work just now with the Hillsborough law, so there's there's so much to talk to you about. Could I kind of go back to the start, Ian, and ask you what it was like growing up in Liverpool as a child?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Oh, I loved it. Uh uh you know, I was actually born in a place called Council Farm, which was a huge uh council estate, and I'm actually privileged now to be the MP uh for the part of it which uh which I was born in. So it was just a you know, it was a 1970s uh working class estate. Uh sure many of them are in Glasgow, very similar. Uh and I had you know, I had a great childhood because we we didn't have nothing like everybody else. Uh you know, my dad was in and out of work, it was during Thatcher's deindustrialization. My dad actually uh worked in British standards. Uh so when that closed in the uh late 70s, 80s, we dad different jobs. So so yeah, it was it was uh it was a child up, probably like everybody else, you know, we're on free school meals, uh, but you know, every I said everybody certainly where we lived seemed to be in the similar boat. So it was just normal that you just you you cracked on and uh and you carried on, and then uh we moved when it was 10 to Anfield. Uh and so they're the two places which have uh shaped my life, uh, but always within them working class areas of of Liverpool.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And I guess at that point, moving to Anfield and the shadow of the stadium, football is just part of life, a huge part of life.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, no, no, absolutely, you know, growing up and canton farm. Uh David Fairclough, who used to be Liverpool's super sub, he used to uh he he had a girlfriend across the road, and we always remember him pulling up in his in his fore capri and his lead and his big fair coat. Uh and it was a massive thing. All the kids would come out, and and my dad was a fanatical Liverpool supporter, so my dad would go to the match, but even though it was a couple of miles away from Anfield where we grew up, he he'd take us uh now and again uh and that but as we as we grew up. But by the time we landed in Anfield, when it was 10, uh nine, 10, then you're right, we could walk. You know, it was it was literally 10-15 minutes away from the house, and it was so cheap to get into the football. Then so then you went with your friends and you'd we'd go in and we'd queue up for hours, and then the game just became such a such a part uh of uh of my life and many others. So yeah, it was uh it was it was it was a dream come true, uh, actually living that close to Anfield.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

I really appreciated also what you said there about your dad and employment and the impact of deindustrialization. My father was a British steel worker, you know. We we faced similar uh situations in Lanarkshire and and uh outlying areas of Glasgow. But did that have an impact on your morale? You know, you spoke about you didn't have a lot of money, but did you realise that at the time?

SPEAKER_00 5:52

No, no, no, but because it was just something which you know you you just lived uh within your means and you knew no difference. Uh but obviously, you know, Jordan Liverpool, Jordan in the 80s, you know, we've seen the demands decline, uh, you know, and we know what Thatcher tried to do to the city and the uh conservatives tried to do with the city. Uh, you know, and you sort of as a growing up as a kid, you protect it from them a little bit, but you know, as you as you get into your teens, then you see uh militant tendency come into the city, and you've seen thousands of people uh in the city, the city taking on the thatched government. So it was just a huge part of you know of the culture of the city uh at the time. Uh and it was uh it was it, you know, it was it was the real political awakening growing up, and then obviously you've touched on it. We go into Hillsborough, and that was the ultimate political uh awakening.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

I'd I'd really like to be able to ask you about Hillsborough if that would be okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

You were there on the day, I think. Were you you were there with your dad?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

No, no, no. I was with friends.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

You were with friends. What was that like from your perspective? I I remember as um I was probably 12 or 13, we saw the news flash come across, I think it was Grandstand that was on, and it instantly I could see the concern in my parents' eyes. It I could see their fear that something terrible was unfolding. What what was it like for you to be there? Did did you sense that immediately?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

We'd been there the year before, and you know, we were 50, I was 15 the year before, and that was that was Ailswood was an or Paul and football ground, you know, it was completely unsafe. It should never ever held uh major sporting events, which which undoubtedly proved uh tragically true. But we knew it was it was a bad ground, it was somewhere we didn't like going. But the year before we'd gone, uh the same group of friends, uh, and then the year later uh we travelled there, and you know, we thought it'd be pretty we thought it'd be the same as last uh the year before, where you know you go the game and you wouldn't uh people wouldn't lose the large, but it was it was always a place to be a little bit wary of. Uh so we thought we we knew what we were gonna uh we were gonna get when we got there, unfortunately, uh because of uh decisions that were made by the police officers at the time and and the uh and the agencies. Obviously, 97 people uh went into the game and didn't come home. Uh 95 and two obviously died uh after that due to due to Hillsburg and and the old devastation and and everything it did to people and you know what it did to the city and you know so many uh families and survivors were affected. But I think it's important to just touch on your family. It was a national disaster, you know, it was a complete national disaster uh where children, men and women lost their lives from right across the uh across the UK. So no, it had a it had a huge impact on me. My dad was uh seriously injured. I lost friends there. Uh lad I went to school with Keith McGrath, a great friend. Uh Keith lost his lifetime to save other people's lives at 16. Uh and and as you said, Liverpool was a you know, it's a village, probably like Glasgow, so you knew many of the people, many of the people who you knew we lost had gotten the game, so you know them to look at. Uh so it had it had such a huge impact uh on me. And and I think that was the main the main thing was that you know extremely naively, uh, you know, once we got home that day, and I can always remember getting off the train because there was no mobile phones then, was there? And my mum was waiting at the station. Obviously, I was there, my dad was there, uh and she with family, and we got off we got off the uh train and she seen us, and you know, uh she she she came and uh gave us a big ogre in that. But it was the thought that the state because we'd seen what had happened, you know, we knew who was who was responsible uh you know for it. We knew how badly he'd been policed uh being there. But it was the naivety in many of us that you know the truth had come out, those responsible be held held to account. Uh and that there lies the story of Hillsburg, doesn't it? When those who were responsible for uh for them strategic events, large smeared and done everything they could to evade justice and accountability and blame the supporters and blame those you know that lost their lives. So, you know, it's a it's a story which is well documented, and obviously it's just had such a huge impact on me uh because it's it's it's basically created what I what I become.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

And and that and that note was it life-changing for you?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Oh, absolutely, yeah, completely for everybody that was there, you know, for everybody that was there in in so many different ways, shapes, and forms, uh it totally transformed your life and it totally transformed your thinking. You know, many uh friends have got you know never recovered fully from it, lives are completely changed forever. Uh, you know, so there's so many facets of of Hillsborough, there's so many human stories, uh, there's so much uh misery, there's so much heartache, there's so much anger, which didn't have to be there with regards to the evading of justice, you know. And I'm I'm lucky in the respect that obviously, Jordan, this journey that you've been on, you know, a lot of people you become friends with a lot of people, and obviously with the Hillsboro and becoming an MP, but also beforehand getting to know many of the people involved at Hillsborough uh really closely and knowing their stories and seeing you know the bravery that they showed throughout this process, but also the human cost and toll it took on them. You know, many of them dads, mums, brothers, sisters never agreed properly because all they were doing was fighting the state. Uh, and you know, it's had such an impact on them. Uh, but those friendships are cherished, uh, a treasure, and as I said, it's shaped what I've done as a parliamentarian.

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Do you think it's also shaped the city in some ways as well? Do you think it's it's uh a disaster that's that's that was so significant that it shaped the the area, you know, is bigger than just one person or or a group of people. It's it's transcended that, it's transcended across the whole area.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, it undoubtedly did. Uh you know, undoubtedly did and still does to this day. You know, obviously the uh the paper that done that, the fairies had line the truth, uh the uh uh news newspaper, you know, that's banned in the city. You know, you know, it's frowned upon if you if you read that, and that's like you know, 37 years later, that anger's still there. Uh and that, you know, that that's a that's a non-negotiable red line for for people. Uh and it shaped the city's thinking because obviously we were in the midst of deindustrialization. You know, uh we'd had high support uh and you know, we knew that you know the government was no friend of ours. Uh and then obviously even now, you know, the city still feel as though that the the government and the state, you know, uh did what they did with uh Jordan Hills, but then I think that's had a huge impact, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

When you talked about that that quest for justice got in the way of grieving, it it's something that I can really appreciate in terms of there was no peaceful grieving because you were looking for answers. But what what it seems uh you know, as an outsider looking in, that it took so long to get those answers as well, that must have been devastating.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah, and you know, you you you speak to you know people like uh Jenny X, Margaret Taspenor, you know, who lost uh two daughters, Jenny and Margaret lost a son, and you know, that fight, uh, and many others, by the way, as well, you know, Hilda Hammond and you know, people just people who you who you just admire so immensely. Yeah and obviously the story of Ann Williams as well documented, but there's so many stories individually with Hillsborough. But when you speak to them, obviously they went straight from. I mean, Jenny was at Hillsborough uh with her husband and the two daughters, she had to leave Hillsborough without the two daughters because obviously what what happened to them, you know. If you speak to Jenny, you know, I don't think they've ever agreed properly because obviously there's been that fight uh for truth, justice, and accountability. And now, you know, we're still fighting for the legacy uh, you know, of those that were uh that died at Hillsborough and those that uh uh survived, but also every other state cover up, you know, that is now connected to this Hillsborough law. But you know, if you speak to them individually, I don't think they know they've they haven't. You know, Jenny lost their entire family that day, really. You know, she's you know, but she hasn't stopped fighting. Uh but I I hold them in such the highest regard because of what they've done. Uh, but the fight's still going on. I think that's what's uh so distressing is that you know, we still haven't got the Hillsborough law, which we were promised, and you know, that fight still goes on. I think once we eventually get that, uh hopefully then people can actually have a couple of years of peace and and actually grieve for those that they've lost.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

For for anyone that's listening that might not know what what is the Hillsborough Law?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

So uh I could speak for hours on it, but basically what the Hillsborough Law uh in its essence uh is a direct result of Theresa May asking Bishop Jones, who uh was chair of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which actually uncovered the real truth around Hillsborough. Uh he asked him, he asked Theresa May, who's then the Prime Minister, asked him to write a report on you know recommendations from Hillsborough. Then what he gave that report. Then Andy Burnham, who was then MP uh at the time in Parliament with Steve Rodderham and others, then drafted it with Pete Wetherby, who's who was uh and an Elkin Ava from something, drafted a piece of legislation called the Hillsborough Law. And the two elements are quite simple. It's a duty of candidate on all public officials uh to tell the truth, and then question inquiries, because unfortunately, with our experience at Hillsborough, many of the police officers' officials, uh public officials told complete and utter lies uh on uh at them inquiries, and uh and and that should never ever be allowed to happen again. So a duty of candidate on them with criminally enforceable sanctions. So we did lie, like they did with impunity, that once those lies were uncovered, that they'd face criminal sanctions and we'd get justice that way. So that's a key part of it, but also uh I'd be balancing the scales of justice because at Hillsbrazil, the example we use, you know, Jordan, the inquiries, the first inquiries, uh no, the the families had to crowdfund to be one solicitor, while the state uh police uh all the authorities of the state had unlimited taxpayers funded money uh to get the very best legal mines in the in the land. So when I do our education uh programme, which we call the Real Truth Legacy Project in schools around the Liverpool City region area, we go in and we tell the kids about what it was like, and we would just basically say it was like going into a boxing wing with types of fury, blindfolded with your end starred behind your back. So you were never ever going to win. The system is set up for people like us not to beat the state. Uh, and we've seen with the numerous cover-ups and that culture that the state knew that they could always defeat uh the people that they were doing this to, and Hillsburg was a great example of that. So, uh and the state was only defeated in the end by the people who have spoken about who the unbelievable campaign. And so they're the two elements of the Hillsbow law, uh key elements, and it's about rewiring the system to make it fairer and to make it harder for the state to do the cover-ups, which they've done continuously over decades.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

And and as you mentioned, it's not just about Hillscore, it's things like the post office scandal. Well, well, where where is the law at this point? Is it signed into law?

SPEAKER_00 18:23

So at the moment, at the moment, uh, you know, we had the manifesto pledge from the Labour Party that'll go in, well, which I stood on very proudly. Then we've had a long battle uh because there's lots of vested interests that do not want that transparency and accountability uh within governments, within the states, within the uh civil service, uh they want to carry on that system. Uh so that was we always knew to be a big battle uh to get to where we wanted to go. But we've got we've dragged the governments into a position with negotiations and uh you know pushing back with MPs joining the campaign and politically and the campaigners and collectively all coming together. And we're nearly there. We're nearly there. We've got a duty, a candle, uh, we've got the rebalance of the scales of justice. So at uh in quests, you know, we'll have fair uh representation from a legal perspective, but at the moment there's a little element of it which we haven't got over the line, uh, and that's a carve out for security services. And unfortunately, we feel as though the security services have let themselves down at times, uh, and it's been covered up. If we look at the Manchester Arena bombing, uh, you know, the state or the security services weren't really truthful about what happened that day, and that that's been uncovered during an inquiry. And what we want to do, and again, it goes back to ensuring that if anybody's caught up in anything like Hillsburg contaminated blood, uh, Manchester Arena, uh terrorist attack, but then they'll get to the truth and the state won't be able to stop them uh getting the truth. So at the moment, there's a there's a negotiation going on with the government to make sure that we feel as though everybody should be under the duty of candor, and certainly from a security service perspective, or with the national security framework, we're not asking for anything other than a simple ask that if there is an inquiry where MI5 have been involved, with the agents involved, have to speak to the uh judge, head of the inquiry behind closed doors and just tell them exactly what their experiences were. So they inform the inquiry of the true extent of what the security services uh involvement was. We just want to make sure that we don't get another repeat of what happened where families from at the Manchester Arena uh terrorist attack would deny justice for years, or the truth, sorry, for years because uh because the state evaded them.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

And do you hope with the law that it's not just about getting the truth, that it's getting the truth in a much quicker process than what happened with Hillsborough?

SPEAKER_00 20:57

Oh, massively so, yeah. No, it really is about obviously uh expediting the process so we can get to uh anything like that happen. Another God forbid on the hills will happen again, but families wouldn't have to go through what they went through just trying to draw down the truth about what happened to their loved ones. We just can't allow that. You know, we've ever politicians, the prime minister, you know, everybody said, you know, it's an intolerable situation, what people have gone through. You've already had that grief, you've already lost a loved one. You shouldn't have to have a battle to find out what happened to them. You know, that's uh that's cruelty of the highest order. Uh so a key part of what we're trying to do is that. And also, you know, if if the morality element doesn't uh doesn't float your boat, well then the monetary elements of it, you know, all the inquiries that have had to take place afterwards, and the public inquiries, there's hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent uh trying to get to the truth of matters because the state, instead of being upfront at the start of what happened, you know, uh having that element of accountability. Where they actually put their hands up and say, you know, we've made a mistake, and we all make mistakes. You put your hands up and then you learn from their mistakes, and those accountable, you know, must be held uh to account. That's all we're asking for.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

It's really moving hearing you talk about it. You know, I can sense your passion for it, but it just struck me there that the evasion of justice it it doubles the grief, doesn't it? It harms it harms the bereavement process.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

It does, yeah. No, it well, yeah, it does. You know, and it just it's not fair, you know, it's not right, it's not morally right, it's appalling, and there's just been so many examples of it. Uh, you know, we can talk all day about how many examples of the state uh doing what they've done and then not acknowledging what they've done, and then letting them letting them families just go through this horrific cruel process of fighting and fighting and fighting just to get the truth. Uh, and that's just where we should be as a society. So the Elsbow Laws are absolutely transformative. It will make a huge difference to this country. It will absolutely, in my opinion, be wire uh the whole culture, and that's what we want to do. So it's a it's it's it's a very, you know, it's it's it's it's a it's a bold policy, uh, but obviously it's from being a transformative policy, and that's why we've got people, top politicians, civil servants, who don't want that accountability, they do not want that. So that's the barriers which we've had to fight and push back, and the campaigners, the campaign, uh those connected to it have done that. Uh, and we'll continue doing that until we get it because, you know, as Jenny said, she didn't leave her daughters behind a Hillsbare to have something which isn't fit in uh, you know, to one of their names. And I think that's so powerful and so true.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Is there anything that individuals can do to support your campaign?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

I think at the at the moment, you know, uh just amplify it on social media, you know, and you see contributions made by the campaigners and uh hopefully, as I said, we'll the government will see sense in the next few weeks and uh and and give us the and give us what they promised, which was the Hillswell Law uh legislation in its entirety, which will be exactly what we want as a legacy for all those who've been wronged at the hands of the state. So it just supports it really. I think anything people who are watching can do to support and amplify those messages, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Perhaps also a consequence of embedding it as law will prevent future tragedies because people might take greater care knowing that there's more consequences as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yeah, yeah, that absolutely. Let's hope that's uh that is one offshoot of it. Yeah, you know, it it does do that. Uh, but as I said, it's just changing that culture. We've got to end the culture of the cover-ups, which has just caused so much harm to this country uh and its people to the United Kingdom.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Ian, one thing that I read about Hillsborough recently was that in terms of the number of people that died there, I know you mentioned the 97, but a huge portion of them were under the age of 30. I think more than 70 um people that died were under the age of 30. It's really hard to fathom that. It's really hard to come to terms with that and the impact that would have had on you as a young person at that point.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Yeah, as I said, you know, there was just so many people connected who were our age and older and friends, and you know, as I said uh before, it is like a village Liverpool, and there's just so much connection, certainly from a Liverpool perspective as well, you know, going home and away and getting to know faces and things like that. Uh so yeah, it was it was it was a right across all demographics, really. I think the youngest was you know, John Paul Galhooly, who was Stephen Gerard's cousin, who was 10. Uh so everybody was affected, you know, everybody, you know, grandads to to children, you know, it was uh it it it it impacted every every age age.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

On behalf of our organization and all our members, I know they would want me to say we're so sorry for the for the loss of that and the impact that it's had on on a city and you know a huge population of people. You you mentioned earlier it transformed your life, it had shaped your life. Is that one of the reasons that you've done so many compassionate things as well, like fan supporting food banks?

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah, I think, yeah, I think obviously coming from Liverpool as well, and just I think that that sense of injustice and you know what we faced and what we I think it had a big impact on me. So obviously I went into the trade union movements. Uh I was a princess till I was 40. Uh, you know, I was always involved within the trade union movements, uh, involved with the union as a rep and things like that. And I took that into I ended up working for United Union after being a cab driver, uh, where he got made redundant to 40, uh, and he locked us out of our factory for six months. So we've always had this sense of, you know, this sense of uh justice through collectivity, uh, and that's always been something installed in me. But also as the Hillsbury give you that uh a sort of like political mistrust of the state and the establishments, uh, and and and that that sort of took that into where I've gone uh moving forward. And as you said, we set up fan supporting food banks in 2015 because myself and Dave Kelly, he was the Evertonian who worked for Unite the union. We both were for Unite. You know, we we we were always involved with football, and we just felt as though fan supporting food banks, uh utilising football fans to come together to help fight poverty, uh, not just as a sticking plaster with donations, but also to inform communities why we were in this position. We shouldn't need food banks, so that was really important. And then joining up with uh like Robbie Daniels and uh Paul Chadwick, who you mentioned at the start in the CW. We just formed a huge collective uh of good people who wanted the fact change, and that's right across the country now. So we're extremely proud that you know Rangers and Celtic uh supporters uh come together, uh, you know, tackling poverty within Glasgow, and we've got Dundee, we've got right across Scotland as well, uh, all part of this network uh of tackling poverty in their communities.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

We were really proud to support some of that transition to Rangers and Celtic and then Dundee. Uh you know, we provided some kit and waterproofs and and whatnot. But for anyone listening, what's the concept of fans supporting food banks?

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Well, it's it was simply football fans coming together. Uh, and you know, certainly from a Liverpool Everton perspective, you know, when Everton were at Goodison, uh, between Anfield and Goodison, it's a quarter of a mile, Stanley Park. It's in some of the poorest wards in the in the country, those most affected by austerity and deprivation, and what political decisions have done to the community. So we it came about we went within a local community centre in Anfield, and there was a queue outside the door. And I knew quite a lot of people in the queue because I live for sneaks from Anfield. They haven't grown up when I said they moved to Anfield. I've carried on. I live right by the ground because I see it every day. I love that. Uh so you know, I knew people in that queue, and I thought they were actually queuing for uh for afternoon activities like Bengo or something, and they weren't doing queuing for the food bank. Uh and the the the uh the lady who was running the community centre said to me and Dave, because we were in for something else, and he said, I went to explain, I went, Well, what are you giving them? So when we went in and we seen the you know the pitiful uh offering they were giving, and that's not their fault because that food bank was a was an independent food bank run by donations coming from the very community that was struggling. So, and she was splitting pastel into little sweet bags. I've told the story many times, and it had such a profound impact on me that people in that queue I knew uh were queuing up to get that, and I felt so ashamed that in our own little bubbles, I just you know, you knew it would you knew we knew the country was struggling with the uh Tory and uh coalition governments and the austerity programme, and we felt it, and it's the but just seeing it visually, the impact it was having on people I knew. Uh and then I couldn't sleep that night, but got up and said today you need to do something. Uh, you know, and we could come up with it. Well, we already work with Liverpool and Everton together, you know. Imagine if like 60,000 uh Liverpudians and 40,000 Evertonion, you know, put a tin in, you know, we could actually give community centres like this uh better provision uh while we were tackling the actual cause of uh food banks. So that's where it came from. We just asked supporters to come the game and give a tin, and we collected it. And I think that was 2015, and we haven't missed a game since, uh, both at Liverpool and Everton. You know, we've had fan supported food banks, and as I said, then other uh clubs seen it could uh supporters because it was such a common, it's such an easy thing to do. And Newcastle have been magnificent, West Ham, uh, you know, Manchester City, so they do exactly the same, and then all the food goes into the local community. And I think just pre-COVID, I think there was about 30-35% of the food going into Liverpool food banks was coming from the supporters, so it really ramped up and caught the imagination. And and then we went into setting food pantries up. Uh, we run six six of them across the city, uh, like food markets. But obviously, once I get into parliament, we've now got an opportunity to to challenge the whole system of why we need food banks, and that's where I writer foods come from.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

And your your fan support and food bank colleagues, they wear purple as a tribute to the blue and red together.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

The blending of that, which is lovely.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

What about in terms of the future and activism around that? Are you hopeful of any legislation around right to food? Or how how are you building in that?

SPEAKER_00 32:25

So what we so obviously we get I get elected in 2019, which wasn't was totally unexpected, which was no, it was never not supposed to happen, really. So we end up going into parliament and then various structures that can, you know, we can what how can we utilize that? We built up this big network outside, uh, which is the length and breadth of the country. How can we enhance that and work alongside that and take that into like a parliamentary uh sphere? So there was a right to food uh commission. Sorry, there was a uh there was a commission getting set up to look at the whole food structure with Henry Dimbleby, and I told them that the right to food should be in that. We'd stood on a manifesto in 2019 with under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party, which had rights of food in it. So we wanted to continue that. And the campaign just grew from that. So what we then did, we went around the country, Zooms during COVID, asking what a right to food would look like in people's lives. And from that, working with the fantastic Shamish Arfa Barty, uh, and many other people, uh, doctors, trade unionists come together and we created a right to food uh manifesto as such with five asks, uh, university school meals, community kitchens, ensuring that benefits and wages actually pay, you know, and keep people out of poverty. And we got towns, cities, mayors signed up to a right to food, uh, and that was going well. But we're thinking it's it's great, but it's not what's it doing, you know, politically, you know, what are we doing with it? So when the Labour Party uh got elected in 2024, what was the next step? And we we've deliberated that. And over the last uh couple of months, we've now come up with a right to food commission. So that started in January, that's been to Knowsley and Liverpool, and every month, last month we were in Northumberland and Newcastle. We're going to Cardiff and the valleys the end of this month, then we're going to Glasgow, then we're going to Belfast, and then we're going to finish in London, and then we're going to have two to three months to draw up a roadmap. Because what I want to be hand is a roadmap to show legislators, politicians, that this can happen. A right to food can happen. And I think Indian in the sixth richest country in the world, uh, and you've got some of the stats that we see in the weekend where people are tearing open food bank parcels before they as soon as they get them out of hunger. You know, I see the uh we see it across my city, your city, you know, we see it across the country that it's so unequal at the moment. So we feel as though legislation-wise, that's what's needed. And there's a growing movement across the world now. But I'm hoping at the end in September that we'll have enough political power where we can start looking at how we can implement that. And the governments are listening. I've sat down with ministers over the last four weeks who are coming to me to ask about the Bite of the Food Commission and what it's achieving. And that's a collection of academics, stage unionists, NGOs, got Amnesty Just Fair, Bakers Union. Um, we've got doctors, uh, we've got nurses. Honestly, it's a it's an unbelievable range of people who want to be involved in uh this transformational, hopefully, uh policy.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Ian, I can't think of uh the credit union movement. I I think we could certainly help, you know, because we we see food poverty every day and we see it affecting more and more because of the cost of living. So um I know our credit union would love to help if you're in and around Glasgow, but we're a national organisation, so we'd we'd love to support you with that. I'd really admire your work on that.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

So what we'll do is I've sended all the details, I'll link you into the uh Glasgow elements of it because I'm sure there'll be a space book, and I'm sure because in my sense of social justice, which are now sits, uh which we fund from Parliament, credit unions are the key part of uh of that. So, you know, it's something I believe in uh massively the credit union movement. So, yeah, I'll send all that over to you at the end, Gail, and then you can actually do a submission or you can give evidence.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

We would love to. Ian, just on that, in terms of credit unions and the impact that they can have in society. We work with uh trade unions, unites one of the trade unions we work with as an example. But what does credit unions mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 36:47

It's uh access to money, but it's it's done at a local level, it's done at a at a ground level, it's not this, you know, these these corporate entities where lots of the banks and them organizations are leaving my community now. Yeah, you know, they're shutting down the exiting stage left. Uh, you know, and it's all digital where the credit union, you know, that's something which for me it's got that it's got that ethos, you know, working class solidarity uh built into it. You know, it's a it's a it's a more hands-on approach to managing your money, it's a more humane approach, but also it's the collective approach. So it's something which I really, really believe in on so many levels. Uh I always have done, uh, and it's something that's supporting Parliament, but also we've brought uh the credit union movement into the centre for social justice because the really important to Liverpool, we work with great credit union providers, uh, but it's really important, I think, that people understand that there is an alternative and it's something which we should be looking at because many other countries use them, I think, far more than we do.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Oh, for sure, for sure. I love your advocacy on that. We're we're just going to bring in a couple of colleagues from first class to ask you some additional questions. But I just wondered what's your hopes for the future with everything that you're doing? You come across as someone with so much uh compassion and energy. Is there is there a big ticket item that you're still hoping to achieve? I know you want to get the Hillsborough Law into legislation, but is there something beyond that that you're hoping for?

SPEAKER_00 38:23

I think you know, I just said, you know, we think we get a we get the Hillsborough law, that'll be transform uh transformative for the country. And then we look at the right to food roadmap as well. If we can do do them two elements, uh, you know, we'd be extremely proud that we've actually tried to affect change in in the job that you do. Uh, but it genuinely is just about making society a fairer, more equal uh society. You know, I think that's what politicians should advocate for. Uh that's what we should push for, you know, and we have done that, you know, we've done that after the war, you know, society was transformation, uh transformed after World War II. Uh, and I think we need to get back to that ethos of you know, everybody in it together. If you can afford to pay, but you do pay, you know, you're not be paying taxes, and you know, you're helping your fellow uh citizen out. And I just think that's what we need to do because I think it's really worrying times at the moment, you know. There's a there's a real turn in the air, and I think what we've got to do is roll back on uh the voices which are trying to do by communities. We've got to completely and utterly uh roll back on what Thatcher wanted, which was you know, no such thing as community. Uh we've got to rebuild, I think, them structures from 45 and that ethos of being in this collectively together. So that's what I believe in, and you know, I'll keep advocating for that.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Amazing. And we've been joined by Diana and Stacey from our head office. So we've got some life questions and random questions for you. Go for it, guys.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

So we have four questions from the team, and Diana Watch is the first one. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:00

So the first question is what are the biggest challenges that your own constituents are faced with in 2026?

SPEAKER_00 40:07

Oh, it's a good question. Uh, I think it's probably what you're facing uh in Glasgow. I think it's uh it's poverty, uh, you know, it's and it's everything connected to that. It's it's housing provision, you know. I think what we've seen over the last 40 years where many uh councils have outsourced housing uh to the private sector, we've just lost uh so much. And I speak to a great friend in Alderay Hospital, a pediatrician, Ian Sinner, and he said, without a house, that foundational elements, a good home for your family and your children, it's so difficult to do anything else with your life. So for us, you know, my mailbag's full of you know, desperate people, desperately wanting a home. Uh, and you know, if we can sort that and also sort out so many elements of society that have been broken down over the last uh 40 years and certainly the last 50 years with austerity. So I think it's the financial and it's the cost of living. You know, we're seeing impacts right across the board, COVID, cost of living crisis, it's been shock after shock after shock for many constituents. So it's trying to do as much as we can to protect them from that, but also bring policies in that don't penalise those that you know haven't got have got the least to lose.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

Thank you. Thank you. Next question from our team is if you had to explain the spirit of Liverpool to someone who's never visited the city using only a song title or a single phrase, what would you choose?

SPEAKER_01 41:34

That's a brilliant question.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

That's easy. Uh Art as Big as Liverpool by Pete Wiley. If anyone if anyone doesn't know it, Google it and listen to the song. He actually um we saved uh at a children's hospice from closing uh in 2023, called Zobby's Place, which is dear to the city. And we we had a uh we had a we said to the city we've got 30 days to five five million pounds, and you know, unbelievable. You know, kids were outside shops doing penny and a guy. We had some unbelievable uh companies like uh Monterex, home and bargain put millions in. Anyway, we done it, we done it, and we saved, we saved it. We're gonna have a new, a brand new uh uh children's hospice built.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

It was amazing. Why I'm saying that we done a concert last year uh in to thank everybody, to thank the city, and we asked all Liverpool artists to uh join, and uh it was a everybody was there, it was it was magnificent. But Pete Wiley done hearts as big as Liverpool, and it just encapsulated everything that you know I love uh about the city. The city is such a great city, it's got faults like every other city, but I think much like Glasgow, I think once you are from there, well, you'll understand it, don't you? You'll understand why you love it.

SPEAKER_04 42:56

Yeah, thank you. Amazing. The next question from our team is Is there a book or TV show that you would recommend to our listeners?

SPEAKER_00 43:06

The Vagatra's philanthropist. Yeah, uh that's the book that uh everybody uh should uh uh should read. And if you want to watch something which makes you understand around the 80s in Liverpool, it's actually coming back out on Shanafor, uh I think, or the Bieber C, it's definitely uh getting be shown. Uh Alan Bleasdale's Boys and the Black Stuff, it's it's unbelievably brutal, but it shows you exactly what happens in Liverpool and Glasgow in the eighties and why uh politics has been shaped as well by by what happened.

SPEAKER_03 43:39

Wow, thank you. And then the last question we have is what piece of advice would you give your younger soul?

SPEAKER_01 43:47

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

I've heard that I've heard disaster people, uh and I haven't uh uh I think. I think don't, you know, if doors open, don't be afraid to kick them down. You know, I think from a working class perspective, I think sometimes we're reluctant to think that we can do things. Uh, you know, I think it's inbuilt in us that sort of self-doubt. Uh, the place I work in, there's many, many people there who come from more privileged backgrounds who feel as though they were born to rule. Uh, and obviously we've seen that some of them should never have been anywhere near the leaders of power. Uh, and I think I think just getting over that self-doubt, and you know, if opportunities arise, have belief in yourself that you can do that, then you can have a go, and you know, and and I think for me that's uh that that's one of the most important things. I think one of the both the proudest things that happened to us, me in the office, you know, was in 2022. Because you go into parliament in 2019, you think, oh, yeah, that's totally out me depth here, you know, just totally feel as though you you know you're depth. Uh and then in 2022 we got MP of the year, we won MP of the year, which which wasn't, yeah. Then it was, I think it was just for me, it wasn't it wasn't a personal thing, it was just about and go working class people can do this job. Uh, you know, because a lot of a lot of parliaments, I think the working class elements being taken out. You touched on your dad steel, uh being in the steel industry. Well, many, many would have come through the Tage Union path from the steel industry into parliaments, you know, the mining industry. Uh they would have people in there that understood them areas. Uh lots of parliaments haven't got that now. There's not there's not there's not a working, there's nowhere near the working class represent representation they should have. It's very professional. Uh so I just think having the the courage and your convictions that we can no, we can go in them places and we can make an impact and we uh and we absolutely should be in them places, you know, and that's why uh that's what I'm I'm very passionate about that representation. So that'll be my message to me, uh my younger self. Uh just believe in yourself.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Ian, that that reply got me wondering if you're if your parents are still around.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Yeah. What do they say about you? They must be hugely proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

I never do enough for them. But uh I'm sure, I'm sure, yeah, and you know, I think I think like uh I don't think we we show our emotions really well, like probably other families, you know, but you know, I just know uh I had my half a there when uh when we moved the uh 10 minute rule bill for the Hillswell, and that was quite a moment because he was no, he's he's he's been he's been around Hillsburg obviously all his life, and you know, he was there to see that, which was uh which was quite a moment. When I won MPDA, they brought my mum down and uh she was just made up to have a drink in parliament and meet uh meet and meet the speaker. So little things like that, you know, uh you know it it's it's nice that that uh that they've actually seen that. But yeah, that you know, I think you know, yeah, your family are proud of you, but you know, I mean we are proud of my brother who led a strike in Liverpool uh for the trade union and uh for Unite the Union and you know we've fought back against a Rogan Ployer, he was out for once. So, you know, I look at many different elements, you know, look at Dave and Robbie and Paul and you know, all the people who've been involved with fan support and food banks and look with them at equal uh pleasure. I think it's it's important to remember that this is a job. You know, my I I've got a job now. I was a taxi diver, I was a printer, I was a trade union organiser. Now I'm an MP, it's a job, so you've got a job to do. Uh, but you're very, very privileged uh to be able to do the job you do, and I never ever ever forget that.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

What a great way to end the conversation. I I think you're amazing, and it's been such a privilege and pleasure to speak to you. Ian, thanks for joining us on Money Made Human. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening to the Money Made Human podcast. We're grateful to spend time with you and hope you enjoyed it. If you want to join a credit union, choose us with love. Until the next time, first class credit union.