York's generosity and kindness during the pandemic have been praised at the House of Commons.

Rachael Maskell told her fellow MPs about how churches, organisations and community groups helped their neighbours and communities.

She singled out John and Julie McCall, whom, she said: "started out by offering some food to people in need last spring and are now feeding 100 people a day.

"This is incredible and I pay tribute to them and to the many other people in York who give up their time and money to help others without a thought for themselves."

The York Central MP made her speech at a debate in Westminster Hall.

“York is an amazing city to live in," she said. "We are renowned for all the volunteer work we do and there is work going on in our communities to help one another every single day.

"I know that there are people out there helping people in need and I witnessed some amazing acts of kindness during the York floods when the whole city came together to help out.

"This kindness and generosity has manifested itself again during the Covid outbreak and this has been evident from day 1 as I have visited so many fantastic initiatives."

She also attacked the circumstances that had led to many people becoming dependent on food banks and hand-outs.

"It is heartbreaking that there are so many people in desperate need of help in Britain at the same time the Covid crisis has created record number of billionaires.

"This inequality is shocking and I am calling on the Government to stop ignoring the crisis and do something about it.

"In the debate, I set out a Labour vision to the Minister which included investment in good quality jobs, building a greener, welcoming and more inclusive city, ensuring that York is family friendly and building the homes that local people want to live in and social infrastructure to cause our communities to thrive.”