A Scottish Government minister said he would have taken a single mum to the supermarket himself had the food bank been closed.
Equalities Minister, Alex Neil, said he had a mother of three children with autism come to his surgery who had her benefits sanctioned.
He said the DWP left her and the children with £18 to live on earlier in the week and by the Friday she had nothing.
He said: “She had no money and no food. We got her food from the food bank and an emergency cash payment.
“That is not an isolated case. That is happening day and daily throughout the UK.”
When asked what would he have done if the food bank was not available to the woman, he said he would have bought her the food himself.
Mr Neil SNP MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, said “I would have marched her to the nearest supermarket and bought her enough food to see her through.”
He admitted he was leaving himself open to others looking for the same help, but added: “I was not going to let a single mum and her children starve so that would have been the only option open to me.”
Mr Neil was speaking at the SNP conference at a fringe event by the Poverty Alliance and Oxfam on tackling inequality and poverty.
He said when new powers come to the Scottish Parliament; the Scottish government will not “shy away” from topping up benefits as long as the cash is not clawed back by the UK.
Holyrood will soon have new powers over welfare which will allow it to increase existing benefit payments.
Mr Neil said within the powers and resources available extra cash would be spent.
He said: “We want to be able to top up any UK benefit we choose without the money coming back out of other UK benefits.
“There is no point topping up UK benefits without a guarantee in law we don’t get a reduction elsewhere. If we get that guarantee we will not shy away from topping up benefits.
He said he did not want to be simply handing money back to the UK treasury.
The minister refused to speculate whether the Scottish Government would increase the top rate of tax when it has the powers.
He said: “The fiscal agreement still has to be decided before it was known what resources are available.
"When John Swinney announces his next budget he has to set the Scottish rate of income tax.”
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