Justin Welby's 'shock' at scale of hunger in UK

Hunger 'stalks large parts' of the country, Archbishop of Canterbury warns ahead of Parliamentary report on issue

Justin Welby has accepted an invitation to present Thought For The Day on the Today programme being edited by Antony JenkinsThe Archbishop of Canterbury has said he was left more shocked by the plight of Britain's hunger-stricken poor than suffering in African refugee camps.

Food is being wasted at "astonishing" levels across the UK yet hunger "stalks large parts" of the country, the Most Rev Justin Welby said.

Families are being forced to turn to food banks to make ends despite holding down jobs, he wrote in the The Mail on Sunday.

The Archbishop's comments come ahead of the publication on Monday of a parliamentary report he has backed that sets out a blueprint to eliminate hunger in Britain by 2020 and urges ministers and the food industry to act.

In the The Mail on Sunday article, he said, although less "serious", the plight of a family who turned to a food bank in Britain had shocked him more than terrible suffering in Africa because it was so unexpected.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11278085/Justin-Welbys-shock-at-scale-of-hunger-in-UK.html