The use of food banks is a personal decision for some people and not an accurate measure of levels of poverty across the UK, the veterans minister has said.

Johnny Mercer argued that food banks remained a lifeline for “some dire cases” but that it was “not correct” to say people used them only when they had no choice.

Cost of living pressures have reportedly affected serving military personnel and their families, who are turning to the estimated 2,500 food banks operating in the UK.

Last year, a record 3m food parcels were distributed to fight hunger in the UK, according to the Trussell Trust.

Mercer said the use of food banks was a matter of personal budgeting and that being in the military came with a good wage and quality of life.

He was challenged on Sky News on Tuesday after recent reports about the effect of inflation on service personnel, including an unofficial food bank being set up at a major RAF base, people no longer being able to afford subsidised meals at their mess, and sailors declining to go home during periods of leave due to high travel costs.

Asked if there was any need for those in the military to use food banks, Mercer said: “These are personal decisions around how people are budgeting every month. I don’t want to see anyone using food banks, of course I don’t. But we’re in an extremely difficult time, around the cost of living.”

When it was put to him that food bank users in the wider population relied on the support because they had no alternative, Mercer said: “In my experience that’s not correct. I think there are some dire cases that we need to do more to wrap our arms around and make sure that there’s a safety net for people.”

But he added: “I don’t think food bank use is an accurate portrayal of where levels of poverty – relative or absolute – poverty are in this country. I don’t want to see anybody using food banks, but I think that being in the military still affords you a good wage and a good quality of life. And that will continue to be the case.”

Mercer stressed he would “always advocate for service personnel to get paid more – I’d be mad not to”, but tempered this by saying government spending had to be “within the constraints of a budget”.

Mercer said “none of these things are black and white”, and pointed to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who when he was chancellor gave defence “the biggest settlement that we’ve seen since the end of the cold war”.

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