Take Back Power Supporters Stage Food Redistribution Action in Truro

Supporters of the campaign group Take Back Power entered a supermarket in Truro yesterday morning and placed food into a local foodbank donation point as part of coordinated actions across the country.

The group says the action was carried out to highlight concerns about poverty and wealth inequality in the UK.

Action at Truro supermarket

At around 9am yesterday morning, two Take Back Power supporters entered the Sainsbury’s supermarket on Treyew Road in Truro and began loading food and essential items into boxes displaying the Take Back Power logo and the words: “These things are going to those who need them”.

According to the group, the supporters then passed through the checkout area without paying and deposited the food into a foodbank donation box.

Take Back Power said similar actions took place in Manchester, London and Exeter. In London, supporters also set up a stall to hand food back to members of the local community.

Falmouth student among those involved

One of the people involved in the Truro action was Connie Chilcott, 24, a student from Falmouth.

Connie Chilcott said:

“Hard working ordinary people should not have to rely on foodbanks to get through the week and billionaires should pay more tax. It’s not rocket science. Yet somehow the super rich have convinced themselves that hoarding all the wealth and starving the public sector of resources is their god given right. I am taking action because I cannot be a bystander while the billionaires take everything and corrupt our democracy. We need to tax the rich and we need to give the 99% a proper say in important decisions about wealth distribution and public spending.”

Campaign calling for citizens’ assembly

Take Back Power describes itself as a nonviolent civil resistance group. It is calling for the UK government to create what it calls a “House of the People”, described as a permanent citizen led assembly chosen by democratic lottery with the power to tax extreme wealth.

A spokesperson for Take Back Power said:

“It is sickening that 6.5 million people in the UK are forced to turn to food banks every year and a third of children under five are living in homes where there is insufficient access to nutritious food. This is because our country is in crisis, with billionaires hoarding wealth, whilst ordinary people suffer. We need to tax extreme wealth to fix Britain, and we need ordinary people to decide how.”

The spokesperson added that the group plans to continue nonviolent actions until the government responds to its demand.

Figures on food poverty

The group pointed to figures suggesting that 14 million people in the UK faced the prospect of going hungry last year due to a lack of money, while 6.5 million people turned to food banks in 2024.

Data from the Trussell Trust shows its food banks across the South West, including Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, distributed 227,735 emergency food parcels in 2025.