Don’t let MPs sweep the homeless under the carpet

THE WORLD was shocked when Gyula Remes was found unresponsive in an underpass near Westminster Tube station last December and died shortly afterwards. It was even more shocking to learn that he was the second rough sleeper to die in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament within a year.

Every day when Parliament is in session, MPs walk along the routes where the men were found. Despite the human consequences of homelessness being under there noses, MPs have not found time to take any new action. Not only is it an old problem, the authorities are using old solutions too.

In 1824, the Vagrancy Act made it a criminal offence to be homeless – and it is that law which police are using to sweep the problem away from MPs’ notice nearly 200 years later. Some rough sleepers are being arrested, convicted and fined for sleeping rough near Parliament (and elsewhere in the country).

Police are also handing out Anti-Social Behaviour notices to homeless people who are begging on the streets. These notices warn the homeless that they could be fined up to £20,000 for begging, even if they are sitting still or even asleep.

The Labour Homelessness Campaign has decided to bring the problem to MPs’ attention as fast as the authorities can sweep it away from their notice. They are meeting up at the end of the Easter break to lobby MPs as they turn up in Parliament.

•The protest begins at 8.30am on Tuesday, 23rd April outside St Stephen’s Tavern at 10 Bridge Street SW1A 2JR. For more information, go to:
Care not criminalisation – break the Vagrancy Act

•Read more about it:
Corbyn pledges to house the homeless
New year but same issues for London’s homeless