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Starving families battered by the Tories’ Bedroom Tax are walking miles for ­emergency food parcels.

One man had to undertake a 30-mile round trip to reach a food bank where demand has risen 78% in a year.

Another couple and their children walked from a village eight miles away.

Exeter Foodbank’s Joy Dunne said people had less money for grub and transport as their benefits had been cut under the Bedroom Tax.

She said: “People ­travelling long distances has become more common as they don’t have money for the bus. We have seen a huge increase.”

And ex-Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw MP said after a visit to the charity: “To say some of the people were too thin is an understatement.

"I found the scenes shocking in one of the wealthiest ­countries in the world.”

The food bank is braced for a further surge in demand as children go hungry without a school meal in holidays.

