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From The Socialist newspaper, 17 October 2018
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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In The Socialist 17 October 2018:
What we think
Tories' Brexit bust-up - general election now
News
Universal credit = universal misery
New anti-poll tax type revolt needed today
Toxic fracking gets the go-ahead while protesters jailed
No to fat-cat top judges' £59k pay hike - fight for decent pay for criminal justice workers
Tory and Trump hypocrisy over murder of Saudi Arabian journalist
Mental health
Fully fund mental health services now
Workplace news
PCS union: nominate Chris Baugh as Left Unity candidate for assistant general secretary
Striking Brum home carers reject 'final' pay cut offer
South Western rail workers launch five-day safety strike to save guards
Uber drivers strike against unfair 'deactivation' and low pay
Bolton hospital workers strike
Grimethorpe dinner ladies stage all-out strike against redundancy
Cable makers' pay strike bites as production falls 33%
Newham finance staff fight pay and grading insult
International socialist news and analysis
Libres y Combativas: striking for women's rights in the Spanish state
Engels
The renewed relevance of Engels' classic Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Socialism - the podcast offering Marxist analysis for the movement against capitalism
'Corbyn-council' faces a choice: Implement or fight the cuts
Devon foster carers fight 30% cut in allowances
Opinion
Peterloo film exposes bloody nature of capitalism
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2018