Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake has joined calls to end the the manufacturing of biofuels from crops, claiming the practice is driving food prices ever higher.

The deputy leader of the House of Commons is backing a campaign organised by ActionAid, which wants a ban on food-based biofuels, arguing that their use drives global hunger worldwide.

The charity says using crops for fuel instead of food not only raises food prices because there is less to eat, but also drives people in poor countries out of their homes as investors grab cheap land to create biofuel plantations.

ActionAid also claims there is growing evidence that biofuels produce more greenhouse gas emissions than some of the fossil fuels they were designed to replace.

The campaign, Food Not Fuel, has so far attracted thousands of signatures across the UK, which have been written onto images of wheat grains and were this week placed outside the Houses of Parliament to create a "wheat field".

Mr Brake said: “Biofuels were introduced in good faith as a "renewable" fuel.

"However, despite the best of intentions, there is increasing evidence that growing reliance on sustainable liquid fuels drives food prices higher.

“Growing crops to make fuel instead of food drives up global food prices, hitting those who can least afford it.

"When one in eight on our planet goes hungry every day, plants should be grown to feed people, not fuel cars.”

For more information, visit actionaid.org.uk/foodnotfuel