Windsor homelessness spat shows Theresa May is a follower, not a leader
Stuart, 39, has been living on the streets in Windsor for four months [Image: David Levene/the Guardian].
Please don’t tell me people will see this as a sign of strength.
Theresa May has reluctantly spoken up to oppose a call by Windsor and Maidenhead Council leader Simon Dudley for police to clear homeless people off the streets in time for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May.
It’s a bit late, isn’t it?
If she was a real leader, the first we would have heard about this issue would have been Mrs May issuing a veto on the whole idea, and demanding that Councillor Dudley’s local authority enact the multi-agency approach to attack the causes of homelessness advocated by Thames Valley Police.
As it is, she just comes across as some ‘Janey-come-lately’.
Theresa May has publicly challenged a call by the leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for police to take action against rough sleepers in the town ahead of the royal wedding later this year.
The prime minister, who is the MP for Maidenhead, said she disagreed with comments made by Simon Dudley on Twitter and in a letter to the Thames Valley police and crime commissioner.
Asked about the remarks during a visit to a hospital in Camberley, [Mrs] May said: “… I think it is important that councils work hard to ensure that they are providing accommodation for those people who are homeless, and where there are issues of people who are aggressively begging on the streets then it’s important that councils work with the police to deal with that aggressive begging.”
Thames Valley police have made it clear that they do not view legal action against rough sleepers and people begging on the streets to be effective, and have called for a multi-agency approach to find solutions to the causes of homelessness and destitution.
Source: Theresa May opposes Windsor council leader over homeless people | Society | The Guardian
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I think we all know the causes of homelessness in these last few years: it starts with a rogue landlord, or a Jobcentre sanction, and is followed up by grasping, vindictive Tories who despise the poor. You’d think Thames Valley Police might’ve figured that out by now. The solution begins with removing the Tories from office, and implementing an approach that doesn’t involve criminalising desperate people or seizing and destroying their only worldly possessions in the name of “discouraging” them from being desperate! The bully-boy authoritarian behaviour of some local councils’ approach to homelessness is despicable, and the police are complicit with their plaintive bleating that they’re “just following orders”!
I don’t suppose May even believes what she says. She probably agrees with the odious councillor in Windsor.
aggressive begging.” …. surely this is more frustration and desperation ? scared they will starve to death if they dont get enough to buy food. frightened of yet another night on the streets with its dangers especially for the women,. young people and (are there really children sleeping on the streets?).
No, it wasn’t true at all. The Tory councillor fabricated his claim.
it seems to be getting like there’s a war in this country. good against evil, christ versus satan, truth versus lies….i feel like there’s 2 sides with a line down the middle. (if only… maybe trumps wall wouldnt be such a bad idea here lol. (i only kid of course, but does make you wonder.)