THE Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has warned of “something new and terrible” happening to British society and has called for a new vision to tackle poverty.

Giving the presidential address to the General Synod of the Church of England, in London, Dr Sentamu said more than 4,000 people in North Yorkshire lived in food poverty and that parishes throughout the UK were helping those in their communities who could not cope financially.

He said: “We see it all around us: poverty. More and more people are living below the breadline. We are an advanced economy, a first-world country, and we have been one for longer than most.

“But we suffer from blight – increasing poverty in a land of plenty.”

He urged Christians to press the case that poverty is “costly, wasteful and indeed very risky”, for wages to be enough to enable people to pay for the basics of life, and to care and speak up for the poor.

“Their money is not working,” he said. “They will not survive. Today needs to eat, needs care, needs love and hope. Give them their daily bread to live for a brighter tomorrow.”

He said The Press had reported that more than 4,000 people were recorded as living in food poverty in North Yorkshire alone during the past six months.