Tag: David Lammy

The housing secretary, James Brokenshire, has admitted Conservative policies may be to blame for rising levels of homelessness, appearing to row back on a statement he made earlier this month. In an interview with the Guardian, Brokenshire had previously claimed rising rough sleeping in Britain was not the result of government policy, but was instead being driven by factors including the spread of psychoactive substances such as spice, growth in the number of non-UK nationals on the streets and family breakdown. Rise in homelessness not result of our policies, says housing secretary Read more Brokenshire said the Conservatives “need to ask ourselves some very hard questions” about why so many more people are now living on the streets than when the party came to power, and admitted “changes to policy” were needed. The comments follow the death of Gyula Remes, who collapsed in a stairwell outside parliament. The Labour MP David Lammy tweeted: “There is something rotten in Westminster when MPs walk past dying homeless people on their way to work.” A fundraising appeal set up by staff on the parliamentary estate to support the charity StreetLink in memory of Remes has already raised more than £10,000. The number of people sleeping rough has more than doubled since 2010 to 4,751, according to government figures. Brokenshire did not deny cuts to welfare may have played a part in the growing problem of homelessness, and said work was under way with the work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, to assess where problems were. “I don’t see it in those terms,” Brokenshire said. “I see it as a combination of concerning elements in terms of addiction, family breakdown issues. Labour announced it would spend £100m to help rough sleepers in freezing weather.

Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the vilification and abuse of Labour MPs who attended Monday night’s demonstration against antisemitism in the party. As leaders of the Jewish organisations that staged the protest told him that they would not meet him until he intervened to halt the attacks on social media, Corbyn said he was profoundly concerned by any abuse. “People have the right to speak out and the right to demonstrate,” he told the Jewish News in his first ever interview with a Jewish newspaper. “I will not tolerate abuse of people for their beliefs.” “Any abuse that’s done is not done in my name,” he added. He also rejected the idea – put forward by a rival demonstration by the Jewish Voice for Labour on Monday – that the reason for the main protest was to smear Corbyn himself. “I don’t see that as a smear.” But his remarks failed to silence his critics. “He’s squandered a wonderful opportunity to speak to the Jewish community in a week when they needed it most.” In the interview, Corbyn was challenged repeatedly to condemn the way MPs who attended the protest have been attacked. He also defended David Lammy, the Tottenham MP who went to the protest to support Jewish constituents. “They need to hear you say, publicly and your own voice, that we had every right to protest about antisemitism, and that Labour MPs had every right to support us … that anyone directing abused, intimidation or threats at those of us who oppose antisemitism is damaging your efforts to eliminate it.” The Skwawkbox, a leftwing blog, emailed several MPs, including John Woodcock, Ian Austin and Wes Streeting, challenging them to prove they opposed all racism in a way that implied their opposition to antisemitism was only a way of attacking the party leadership. In his interview, Corbyn insisted the investigations into allegations of antisemitism made against Livingstone must follow due process.