Friday, March 29, 2024

Vanquish The Vagrancy Act

Section:

Matthew Steeples joins those calling for the Vagrancy Act to be urgently repealed; homeless people need help and not hate

 

News that a 31-year-old homeless man was found dead in sub-zero temperatures last week in Birmingham is shocking enough, but that 34% of local authorities in England and Wales are continuing to use the outdated Vagrancy Act is nothing but disgraceful.

 

Made law in 1824 and designed to punish “idle and disorderly persons,” the Vagrancy Act makes it an offence to sleep rough. Around 2,000 people per year are prosecuted as a result of it and responding to calls for its abolition, Jake Berry, a minister at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, recently told the House of Commons: “The Government do not believe that anyone should be criminalised for simply sleeping rough, but equally we should not rush to a wholesale repeal of the 1824 Act without proper consideration of the consequences.”

 

He unsympathetically added: “[It is] sometimes the only option to get someone off the street when they have become dependent on begging income to support their drug or alcohol dependency.”

 

In response, Paul Noblet, head of public affairs at Centrepoint, remarked: “The act does nothing to end homelessness and contributes to the shame and stigma associated with it.”

 

With nearly 600 people having died whilst homeless last year and Labour rightly calling for the repeal of this unjust law, it is time Theresa May also joined those supporting Layla Moran MP’s private member’s bill to repeal this Dickensian legislation. Genuinely homeless people need help and not hatefulness.

 

Facebook: @TheSteepleTimes

Instagram: @TheSteepleTimes

Twitter: @SteepleTimes and @M_Steeples

 

The Steeple Times
The Steeple Times
We research and background check our articles. If you believe we have made and error in some detail please get in touch, we seek always to write the truth and stand against a press owned by a self selected few. Please help us, we will accept all your likes, subscriptions and anonymous suport. The Editor and his team at the Steeple Times.

3 COMMENTS

  1. I do feel that the 1824 Act belongs in the past, not in our society today. In our hearts most of us feel for the homeless, so why stigmatise them in legislation?
    I wonder, what are the tools/practices now available to us? I saw a man passed out on drugs or alcohol outside a Tesco on a high street in London, as I was driving, and I wondered, what is the right course of action? What would the police do? What would the ambulance do? Is it true that the homeless with addictions refuse to use charity shelters because they can’t use drugs there, so they run away from shelters back into the street? What is the best way to help them, in practice?

  2. It’s an absolute disgrace and a national tragedy when a person doesn’t have a roof over their head in a supposed civilised society. Each time I see one of these people, I wonder what their story is, yes I know a small proportion are there for the wrong reasons. But the majority don’t choose to live like that, who would? They have a all sorts of problems including mental health issues. It makes my blood boil when I see the extravagance and waste of politicians, and also the last two Royal weddings, when a couple of miles away people are living in cardboard boxes. The next time any of us see one of these Human beings, yes that’s right, they are Human beings. Stop and think, there but for the grace of God go I.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

£1 per week Supports The Steeple Times

Help journalism to remain honest & independent. You can make a difference to the world today.

3,573FansLike
2,068FollowersFollow
16,731FollowersFollow
4,962SubscribersSubscribe

Subscribe For DAILY NEWS

Please subscribe, like and share this unique site, it helps us tremendously. The Steeple Times in return will send you an email at noon each and everyday, that we sincerely hope you will enjoy & look forward to seeing in your inbox.

AD
Advertisement

Trending Now

Getting One’s Goat – A Cheesy Conundrum – Goat vs Goats vs Goat’s vs Goats’ Cheese

Matthew Steeples explores conundrum of how to describe cheese made from goat’s milk and shares thoughts of Susie Dent to Alan Rusbridger, Christine Hamilton, Jay Rayner, Matthew Jukes, Mic Wright, Nigella Lawson, Matthew Wright, Tom Parker Bowles and Samantha Markle on goat cheese.

Most Popular Articles

The Phil & Matt Show

Phillip Schofield filmed smoking shisha with his alleged ex-lover Matt McGreevy (and pictured in bed thereafter); another image shows the pair together in photograph...

Was Mucky Minx Meghan Markle A ‘Yacht Girl’ For ‘Randy Andy’?

As author Kirby Sommers suggests that the then Meghan Markle likely spent time with Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein before she met Prince Harry, we again highlight the mucky, murkiness and mendacious manner of this alleged “yacht girl.”

SchofieldLite

‘Politicalite’ suggest Phillip Schofield orchestrated his ‘mass coming out’ after a former ‘This Morning’ runner had gone to the press about a supposed relationship...

Meddling Meghan Markle Expose – Attwood, Hopkins & Steeples

Expose interview with Matthew Steeples by Shaun Attwood and Jennifer Hopkins about the former Meghan Markle watched over 73,000 times in 16 hours since it aired; Steeples condemns hapless Prince Harry and his meddling menace wife.

Ampika Pickston

Oldham born divorcee and former glamour model Ampika Pickston describes herself as “feisty, fun loving and warm hearted”. Now based in Hale Barns, Cheshire...

Justice for James Scurlock

Power of social media proven after senseless killing of James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska allegedly by a controversial bar owner named Jake Gardner who has been photographed with Donald Trump.

Nasty NestSeekers

Entitled Hamptons brat Jonathan Davis exposed for allegedly squatting in Sag Harbor during the coronavirus lockdown; it turns out he’s a realtor with NestSeekers.
[td_block_6 custom_title="Most Liked..." sort="popular7"]