Let's make 2020 the year we scrap the Vagrancy Act

The Vagrancy Act is an archaic bit of legislation that isn't fit for purpose in 21st century Britain. I'm calling on the Tories to bin it.

In 2018 a homeless man, Gyula Remes, died in Westminster Tube station. He was one of over 700 homeless people who died that year, and the second to die in Westminster station that year.

There's a gate in the station - near the entrance to Parliament. It's designed to push homeless people just a little bit further away. How many times did MPs just walk past him and turn a blind eye?

I see homeless people every day when I arrive at Parliament. It breaks my heart. It makes me absolutely determined that 2020 is the year that we scrap the Vagrancy Act.

The Vagrancy Act makes it an offence to sleep rough or beg on the streets.

It's a cruel, Dickensian law - brought in to keep veterans of the Napoleonic Wars off the streets. It has no place in modern Britain. Many MPs can find the political will to spend half a million pounds on making a bell chime this Thursday. What's stopping them finding the will to scrap this law?

71% of people think arresting someone for sleeping rough is a waste of police time. Over half said that it shouldn’t be a crime at all – of course it shouldn’t!

But still, the government's kicked the decision of repealing the Vagrancy Act it into the long grass and is waiting for their own review. I'll make it easy for them. Criminalising the homeless does not work. People like Gyula Remes need our help, not prosecution.

In fact, I'll make it really easy for them. I introduced a Vagrancy (Repeal) Bill into the last Parliament. It could be brought back in a heartbeat. The bill is oven-ready, or whatever odd metaphor Boris Johnson wants to give it. This can be the year we stop criminalising homelessness.

Out of sight, out of mind isn't good enough. It's a mark of national shame that even one person is homeless in 2020 - even more so that we're prosecuting them for it. The problem isn't going to go away - so let's make the first step towards solving it together. Let's scrap the Vagrancy Act.

Being homeless is not a crime.

Calls for Labour to Go Further on War on Plastic

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on Welsh Labour to be more ambitious in its war on plastic and introduce a bottle deposit scheme in Wales. While welcoming the long-delayed plans to ban single-use carrier bags and plastic drinking straws in Wales, the Welsh Liberal Democrats said there was more to be done. Under legislation introduced today, single-use carrier bags, plastic drinking straws, plastic plates, cutlery, stirrers and cotton buds would all be banned under the proposed new law. Research from Wrap Cymru estimates that 400,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated in Wales each year, with 67 per cent of that waste being packaging. Another report by the Marine Conservation Society found that there were 29 drinks containers for every 100 meters of beach in Wales. A Deposit Return Scheme, also known as a bottle deposit scheme, encourages people to recycle drinks containers such as plastic or glass bottles. People pay a small deposit f...

Wales Hosepipe Ban – Criticism of Welsh Water Over Large Bonuses While Infrastructure Creaks

Following the news that people in some areas of Wales could face a hosepipe ban this summer, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have criticised Welsh Water for paying large bonuses to its bosses while infrastructure creaks. Data from Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, showed that 169.9 megalitres/day were being wasted through leakage in Welsh Water’s network during 2020-21. The company also failed to meet its Per capita consumption (PCC) targets which are designed to push for less water to be taken from the environment. The Welsh Liberal Democrats say that their analysis of Company House data shows that executives at Dŵr Cymru were paid £2.6 million in 2020 and 2021 including £931,000 in bonuses, benefits and inc entives. Commenting Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds said: " We cannot control the hot and dry weather, but we can control wastage through outdated or poorly-maintained infrastructure. “Welsh Water brands itself as “no...

Ed Davey pays tribute to Her Majesty The Queen in Parliament

Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, paid tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Parliament. The deep mourning across the country now – just like the celebrations of her Jubilee a few months ago – comes not from a sense of duty, but from genuine and heartfelt affection, love and admiration of Her Majesty. It's not because we were her subjects, but because she was truly our Queen. What she meant to us is perhaps best summed up by a phrase on so many people’s lips over the last twenty-four hours: “I can’t imagine our country without her.” For almost everyone in the country, she has been there our whole lives. At times of national grief and national jubilation, she has never not been there for us. So it is hard to accept that she is gone. And hard to see how we go on without her. But we will. Our great United Kingdom has a great future – because The Queen’s spirit of strength, grace and resolve lives on in her people. One of the great...

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