GREENS leader Natalie Bennett yesterday blasted benefit sanctions as “morally indefensible” after foodbank demand was shown to have soared.

Speaking in Sheffield, she said the Tories’ “punitive” policy of stripping unemployed people of cash would never help lift them out of poverty.

The Trussell Trust revealed on Tuesday that the number of people seeking emergency handouts rocketed by a fifth last year.

Ms Bennett said: “The principle that those at the bottom of society shouldn’t be made to pay for the mistakes and fraud of the bankers runs through everything we are doing as a party.

“We believe that poverty is a result of political decisions — and that only a new kind of politics can overturn the race to the bottom on wages and benefits that we’ve seen for too long in this country.”

The Green spoke out during a visit to Sheffield University Students’ Union.

Her party is the second most popular among students there, enjoying 29 per cent support according to the results of the Student Politics Survey released on Monday.