What can one person in Knutsford do about 925 million hungry people in the world?

Global food prices are at record high levels, making food unaffordable for the poorest people in the world. The high prices are fuelled by banks and hedge funds betting on food in financial markets. While they reap billions in profits, millions of people across the world are being pushed into hunger and deeper poverty. 

This risky financial gambling on a basic human need is a recipe for disaster. But it can be stopped. Regulating food speculation is on the agenda in the EU and George Osborne - MP for Tatton and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer – will be representing the UK at EU talks where financial regulation is being discussed. 

The UK government is currently opposed to introducing new rules to prevent excessive speculation so it’s time to turn up the pressure.

As your elected representative, George Osborne will pay particular attention to your concerns. It's up to you to do something about this.

What you can do

You can help stop this scandal by writing to George Osborne and asking him to back essential banking regulation to curb food speculation.

Please write a letter to George Osborne MP, Tatton Conservative Office, Manchester Road, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 0LT or fill in the contact form on his constituency website.

If you want to find out other ways you can help persuade George Osborne to help tackle hunger, email wdm@wdm.org.uk.

Things to remember

• Include your address to verify you are a constituent.
• Mention that you are a constituent in your letter or email.

What to say

• Excessive speculation on food by financial institutions is fuelling food price spikes and inflation. Food price inflation has added £188 to the average UK household’s food bill in the past year. It has also left millions across the world facing hunger and malnutrition. 
• Commodity derivative markets need better regulation to ensure stable and affordable food prices for the benefit of consumers, producers and businesses in the UK and globally. 
• George Osborne should support proposals, as part of the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) that will effectively tackle excessive food speculation. These measures are: 1. Food derivatives deals to take place on regulated markets and 2. Introduce position limits to restrict the share of the market that can be held by financial institutions at any given time. 
• He should resist the adoption of weaker approaches, such as position management which could result in effective deregulation and would fail to address food price volatility.