The Trussell Trust, which runs the Isle of Wight Foodbank, based in Love Lane, Cowes, is challenging candidates standing at May's local election to pledge to work towards eradicating the need for foodbanks altogether.

Asked what they would do, if elected, one Island candidate thanked the Trust for its work, revealing he was among those to receive food parcels in 2020, while others are calling for a local spend to boost jobs and a 'more caring' approach to tackling food poverty.

The Trussell Trust has today (Thursday) revealed that more than 5,000 emergency food parcels were handed out to Islanders in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic - with more than 2,000 going to children.

The overall handout was a decrease on 2019, but The Trussell Trust suggests that is likely to be because of the huge number of support groups that sprang up as a result of the pandemic.

On the Isle of Wight, businesses, churches, charities, community groups and schools have all been working to keep Islanders in crisis on their feet.

How did the Island's political hopefuls response to The Trussell Trust's challenge?

Labour's Phil Attfield, who is standing in Cowes South and Northwood, where the Isle of Wight Foodbank is based, said: "The foodbank and its volunteers do an incredible job, but having a foodbank in the ward isn’t a point of pride. "Families with young children, low income workers and pensioners all need support and often have nowhere else to turn.

"As The Trussell Trust points out, the combined response of charitable groups to the pandemic will have masked the underlying need.

"I and Island Labour personally commit to doing all we can to end the need for foodbanks as soon as possible.

"We have a plan to spend more of the council’s budget with Island firms, creating secure well paid jobs, as well as using the investment fund to build council homes, to take people out of rent poverty.

"Achieving it is about political will."

For Nathan Stubbings, Green Party candidate for Cowes South and Northwood, the matter is a very personal one.

He said: "The Isle of Wight is not immune to the poverty that afflicts the rest of the UK.

"Having received food parcels myself in the first lockdown last year, I can understand the complicated emotions which accompany the need to accept such parcels.

"Foodbanks do a fantastic job but they should not be necessary. Everyone should be paid a high enough wage to support their family.

"The focus for our local councillors must be to ensure that children and struggling families always have access to school meals at the point of need, and adults must be able to access local, good quality food support.

"We are all grateful for the work of the Isle of Wight foodbank and other food providers. Thank you."

Steph Burgess, Liberal Democrat candidate for Cowes South and Northwood, said: "The fact that there is a need for a foodbank at all in Britain in 2021 is abhorrent.

"There are 7,000 children living in poverty on the Isle of Wight.

"This is not news and yet little has been done by the Isle of Wight Council to tackle the issue.

"The number of local businesses who 'stepped up' during the pandemic to offer free school lunches, at a time when their own businesses were struggling, was an incredible endorsement of the fantastic kindness and community spirit we have on the Island.

"Donations to food banks across the country fell during Covid-19 - a reflection on the number of people who were struggling themselves.

"People have had enough of the lack of compassion and support.

"Now is the time to bring in a more caring and open council team, who will work together, in partnership with other parties, to create a fairer Island for everyone who lives here, particularly our most vulnerable residents."

Also standing for election in the ward is Conservative John Nicholson.

For the party, Conservative leader Dave Stewart said: "Foodbanks have become an essential source of support for some Island families, just as they have nationwide – particularly during the pandemic.

"They have complemented the measures we have put in place to support local families.

"I would like to see us get to the point when foodbanks are not needed, but until then we must support them.

"The best way to eradicate the need for foodbanks is to do all we can to enable strong economic recovery from the pandemic, with additional, better paid jobs being created on the Island.

"That is something which we are focused on for the months and years ahead."

Our Island said it was 'deeply concerning' that so many relied on foodbanks and called for more community support.

It added: "We should recognise that these are problems that were occurring long before the pandemic."