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Last Friday, a grandmother walked in to Rachel Reeves’ surgery in her Leeds constituency.

“She came to see me about a foodbank voucher,” Reeves says.

“Her husband, a pensioner who had served in the Armed Forces, had refused a voucher because he didn’t want to turn to charity.

"She had come back to ask for it because she knew her family desperately needed it.

“She came in, in tears, because she didn’t have enough food. She has full-time care of two of her grandchildren and has pawned all their furniture.

“My job this week is to try to get their stuff back and to help her sort out their arrears. These are dignified people who have worked all their lives being completely failed by the system.

“Hopefully, they will be able to go to the foodbank today. But they shouldn’t have to. The welfare state should be there to support them.”

Last week, Reeves – Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – made comments about the welfare state that included the sentence: “We don’t want to be seen – and we’re not – as the party to represent those who are out of work.”

It seemed shockingly out of place from someone who has supported so many of the people – out of work and unable to work – whose stories have appeared in this column.

And it didn’t ring true. Reeves, 36, brought up in South East London, understands only too well the blurred distinction between working people and people on benefits.

In 2013, under the Coalition, a line was crossed where there are more people in poverty who are in work than out of work.

“I was being asked about whether Labour is the welfare party,” Reeves says, clarifying comments she says were taken horribly out of context.

“Of course, the Labour Party represents everyone in work and out of work. It was created to give a voice to working people, but we also built the welfare state for those who fall on difficult times.

"People should judge us on our policies not on a comment taken out of context.”

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Sitting in a Westminster cafe, she looks across at Parliament. There are people out of work now who can’t take another five years of this Government,” she says.

“There are disabled people who can’t take another five years. We will make sure there is a strong safety net.”

A few months ago, Reeves and I went to see Paul and Sue Rutherford in West Wales. Carers for their grandson Warren, who has a rare chromosomal disorder, their lives are being made intolerable by the Bedroom Tax.

In Wales, she told me the welfare state was so important because “that could be any of us”.

“Of course Labour is Sue and Paul and Warren’s party,” Reeves says. “Sue and Paul are heroes. They are working harder than most us have ever worked.

“We should support them, not make it harder for them to do the amazing job they are doing. The Government is pushing people like them right to the edge.

“Meeting Sue and Paul made me even more determined to fight for a Labour victory. They need a Labour Government – and not just to end the Bedroom Tax.”

On Wednesday, Reeves – together with fellow shadow frontbencher Maria Eagle – will unveil a five-point plan aimed at calling time on Foodbank Britain.

“Foodbanks have become the symbol of this Government,” Reeves says. “There is barely a church or a supermarket in the country without a collection point.

“We will publish the numbers and reduce the number going to foodbanks by cancelling the Bedroom Tax, getting a grip of benefit delays, seeing sanctions are only used when they should be, by increasing the minimum wage and ending the use of exploitative zero hour contracts.”

Today, a select committee review of sanctions policy – triggered by the Mirror’s petition with Gill Thompson, the sister of David Clapson – published a damning indictment of the current regime.

The report confirms the DWP has had to look into the link between Iain Duncan Smith’s policies and 49 deaths.

“This Government has punished the people who are most vulnerable,” Reeves says.

Over six months pregnant with her second child, she was also horrified to see evidence that pregnant women are being sanctioned.

“They are supposed to be exempt,” she says. “It is absolutely wrong and will never happen when we are in charge.”

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Reeves wants voters to know that Labour will get people into work. “A lot of people who want to work feel let down by this Government,” she says.

Under the coalition, in-work benefits have grown exponentially. “I see people in my surgery all the time who work several jobs and can’t afford to eat,” she says.

“We are seeing this more and more because the minimum wage hasn’t kept pace with the cost of living and because of the growth of zero hours contracts.

“There used to be one foodbank in my constituency, now there are four or five. We will reduce the number of people going to foodbanks. Iain Duncan Smith won’t even meet the Trussell Trust.”

She looks up from her mug of tea. “So, no, we are not the welfare party. But my party created the welfare state and with me as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions people will get the help they need when they need it.

“If we carry on like this our children and grandchildren won’t have a welfare state. That’s why this election is so important. We have to win.”