Shocking and abysmal; own goal by Steve Double

Steve Double has surpassed himself and scored a nasty own goal. He was on the cover of St Austell Voice talking about ‘ridding the town of this blight’ talking about people who are homeless in St Austell. 

There’s been a rise in the number of people who are homeless in this country in the last ten years and one of the main reasons is universal credit. The current system makes people wait five weeks before they can receive any help and penalises and sanctions them too. Universal credit has forced people into being homeless. It was introduced by the Conservative Party and Mr Double has voted every time for it. 

A third of children in St Austell and Newquay are now officially living in poverty. Many are likely to be the homeless people of the future.

It’s not just universal credit and the way it is applied it’s also cuts to drug and alcohol treatment services; it’s cuts to drug prevention programmes; it’s cuts to public health; it’s cuts to schools budgets (over £20 million in Cornwall); it’s underfunding the NHS; it’s cuts to police and probation budgets, a loss of 21,000 police staff, all on the Conservatives watch.

All these cuts have been introduced, voted for and overseen by Mr Double and his party. This is what has caused the rise in the number of people who are in dire straits. 

Let’s help people back on their feet when they hit hard times, so they don’t need to be living on the streets. Other countries, towns and cities have done it. 

I don’t hold people who are homeless to blame for their plight I blame this Conservative government and Mr Double. Austerity has been a political choice and it’s not over. Meanwhile MPs get a pay rise and huge companies making millions in profits pay little or no tax. These Conservative policies are a blight on us, not people who have fallen on hard times.

I’d also like to see the Voice celebrate the kindness and care a homeless man gave someone who collapsed in St Austell, by printing that news on their front page next week, not this awful unkindness and vilification.
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Felicity Owen
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