Burnham announces drive to get thousands of rough sleepers off streets for Christmas
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Andy Burnham has pledged to work to “get everyone in for Christmas” as he continues to build on his policy to end rough sleeping.
Arguing in the Guardian that rough sleeping has become so common it now “feels like part of the scenery”, Burnham promised he would mount a Covid-style campaign to get everyone off the streets this winter.
The announcement solidifies tackling homelessness as a central policy for Burnham’s government, and gives voters a measure by which to judge his success – although without a concrete target for ministers to hit.
Homelessness campaigners welcomed the move, but warned more will need to be done to tackle the longer-term temporary accommodation crisis, which has given the UK the worst homelessness problem in the western world.
In his article for the Guardian, he writes:
We see people bedded down in doorways and sat outside stations, carrying their lives in rucksacks and sleeping bags on their backs. And I think most people have the same reaction: this isn’t right.
It shouldn’t be happening here. But we’ve lived with it for so long that something that used to shock us now feels like part of the scenery.
He added:
We did it in the pandemic. We got people out of the cold because, as a country, we decided it had to be done. We can do it again.
That’s why the first thing I announced when I became prime minister was a commitment to end rough sleeping. Not to manage it, not to reduce it – but to end it. And today, we’re taking the first step in getting it done.
We’re putting £442m behind a national drive to get everyone in for Christmas.
The prime minister is expected to visit to a homelessness charity in the north-east later today.
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In other developments:
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Burnham confirmed a new partnership between the government and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to take local control of bus services in the region. Burnham said the “absolutely massive” move would protect thousands of jobs, which were threatened after the parent company behind local operator National Express indicated it was leaving the market.
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Burnham said “nothing of consequence” was exchanged when he was text messaging somebody impersonating Donald Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles. “All politicians are receiving these pressures and these challenges, but I did everything right. There was a minimal exchange of information of zero consequence, and it was quickly reported,” he told reporters.
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Burnham said he will present findings on a review of the early release scheme in England and Wales when parliament returns in two weeks’ time. Justice secretary Alex Norris is drawing up plans to “maximise public safety and minimise the early release of prisoners”, the prime minister said.
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The green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince has urged the prime minister to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea, in a reversal of his previous position. Vince, who has given more than £5m to Labour over several years, said he had told Andy Burnham that the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects should be approved as long as the oil and gas produced were subject to price controls to make them cheaper than energy imported from overseas.
