Homeless driven from Windsor streets for royal wedding: abolish the monarchy and end homelessness now!

The royals live lifes of luxury while inconvenient homeless people are victimised for their benefit, photo Garry Knight (CC) (Click to enlarge)

Alex Wedlake, Cardiff West Socialist Party

Quick, look rich - the royals are coming! Yet again the homeless of Windsor were moved on in preparation for another royal wedding on 12 October.

The council insists that the intention was to keep the homeless safe due to the expected increase in footfall with over 3,000 gathering outside the gates. With a security bill of over £2 million, and a further £250,000 for the clean-up, surely this money could have gone to better use protecting those most vulnerable in society.

Take, for example, my home town of Cardiff. Official figures in Cardiff put rough sleepers at a little over 100, a figure that has risen steadily each year by 7% as austerity grips the nation. But the figure for applications for help with homelessness to Cardiff council was 3,987 in 2017-18.

With funding for homeless provision in Cardiff slashed by at least 70% since 2011, it is no wonder that the city is struggling to find provision for those at the sharp end of austerity measures.

At least 450 homeless people in the UK have died this year, exposing the "national emergency" of homelessness across the UK. One high-profile death in Cardiff last year was contributed to by the police operation 'Purple Ash' that sought to crack down on begging and the homeless.

This meant that homeless people were moved away from city centres towards less visible areas of the city, giving them less access to food and help.

Yet councils across the country do little to address this emergency, refusing to even implement legal no-cuts budgets that would protect the most vulnerable.

It is absolutely scandalous that Cardiff City Council not only refuses to utilise reserves to address the city's homelessness issue but partners with the city's police and crime commissioner to persecute those on the streets in the 'Purple Ash' operation.

Join the Socialist Party in Cardiff on Thursday 25 October at 7.45pm at St German's Church in Adamsdown to build a campaign demanding:

An immediate measure to put a roof over every head
Rent controls to cap rents at genuinely affordable levels
Banning of letting agency fees
Use of reserves and prudential borrowing powers to embark on a mass council house-building scheme
Funding and support for social services to assist homeless people into housing and employment

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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.