A Glasgow foodbank is expected to become the busiest in Scotland this year, new analysis has found.

The Glasgow South West Foodbank in Ibrox, which serves around 98,000 people in the city, has experienced 109 per cent growth in demand since April 2016.

Reports by the Trussell Trust suggest that they will have provided more than 112,000 meals to the community between April 2018 and March 2019.

Around 11,347 three-day food packages have already been given to those in need so far this year, with a further 1,000 or so predicted to be handed out before the end of the month.

This growth comes in advance of the full roll out of Universal Credit in the area, with volunteers needing to raise around £1,000 a week to keep the foodbanks running.

The announced comes as two prominent politicians visited Glasgow on Friday as part of an anti-austerity tour of the UK.

Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Frank Field MP and Vice-Chair Heidi Allen MP joined local representative Chris Stephens MP in visiting Glasgow South West Foodbank.

The Ibrox-based foodbank, run by the Trussell Trust, were at the meeting alongside representatives from Glasgow South East Foodbank and Money Matters.

Friday’s visit was part of the pair’s anti-austerity tour to the poorest corners of Newcastle, Glasgow, Morecambe, London and Leicester as part of the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

Speaking after his visit to Glagow, Frank Field MP said: "What Heidi and I are picking up from this series of visits is a bank of evidence around the causes and appalling human consequences of chronic poverty in modern Britain.

"We are seeking further evidence in Glasgow, as well as new ideas around how the soft underbelly of our society can be strengthened so that none of our fellow citizens are pushed into destitution.

"What people have taught us at every stop on this tour are the horrors of destitution.

"Today we met two families. One, with two children, had been reluctant to visit a foodbank because of pride and shame, but hunger drove them in.

"There are clear reforms that we need in the Autumn budget later this year, but I pray those in need don't wait that long."

The visit is the last by the two MPs before their initial findings are published.

Discussed were the freeze on benefits, the imminent roll-out of Universal Credit in the area, as well the reforms needed to provide sustenance for those in need.

Chris Stephens MP said: “Glasgow South West Foodbank poverty analysis shows a very worrying trend and that is undoubtedly linked to the rollout of Universal Credit.

"The five weeks that new claimants are waiting for payments is completely unacceptable and it is forcing people into poverty and unnecessary hardship.

This has been evident in areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out where we see an increase in debt, low income and arrears as recipients, many of whom are paying back advance payments resulting in a vicious circle where recipients can’t escape the paying off of debt except by going without.

Constituents contact me for help regularly because they are suffering under this system, which desperately needs to be halted and fixed.

Yet in evidence to the select committee last week the Secretary of State yet again reiterated her intention to have all claimants on Universal Credit by 2023.

That means the trend of rising foodbank use looks set to continue.

"Universal Credit is not working, and this botched rollout, which is causing so much misery and hunger in our communities, must stop now.

"There needs to be a system that can cope with the complexities of people’s lives, rather than a one size fits all approach."