‘Children as young as three’ queueing for food at night soup kitchen in Glasgow, says charity boss
A homelessness charity boss has said he was shocked to see more than 10 children lining up for hot food at a Glasgow soup kitchen.
Colin McInnes, who co-founded Homeless Project Scotland in 2019, said it was a “reflection on today’s politicians”.
Mr McInnes claimed there were youngsters as young as three who had been brought along by their parents, as well as a child in a pram on Friday night.
He told Sky News: “It was a big shocker to us. My message to politicians is this: They need to step up and deal with this or step aside and let someone else deal with it.”
Homeless Project Scotland (HPS) runs a soup kitchen seven nights a week under Glasgow’s Hielanman’s Umbrella next to Central Station in the city centre.
Mr McInnes claimed one mum made the trip from Paisley in Renfrewshire more than 10 miles away to stock up on food.
The charity chief added that he has noticed more people filling up bags with food so as they can freeze it to use later in the week.
He said: “We’re feeding 310 people a day. We’re the largest soup kitchen in Scotland and what’s extremely difficult to understand is that it’s only 20 minutes from Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency.”
The First Minister, who is MSP for Glasgow Southside, was reportedly invited to visit the soup kitchen more than a year ago but is yet to take up the offer.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The first minister regularly visits and engages with different organisations and groups to help inform the Scottish government’s efforts to tackle homelessness and the housing secretary visited Homeless Project Scotland last year.
“We’re taking action to end homelessness in Scotland once and for all, and are working closely with Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, including meeting with them regularly to keep up to date with developments in the city.”
The Scottish government added it is providing £52.5m to support local authorities in implementing rapid housing and Housing First approaches. Earlier this month it announced a further £2.4m to help those struggling to buy food amid the cost of living crisis.
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The soup kitchen in Glasgow is open seven nights a week. Pic: Homeless Project Scotland
As well as the soup kitchen, Homeless Project Scotland also distributes sim cards for free phone calls and hygiene packages to those in need.
At the weekend, the charity’s street team was sent to Edinburgh after a “high level” of rough sleepers were reported to its helpline.
Sky News has contacted City of Edinburgh Council for comment.
Mr McInnes said: “Edinburgh was pretty horrific. People are walking about with quilts under their arms – a quilt under your arm and a soggy pavement is not a home.”
The Scotland-wide charity, which has 1,800 volunteers, uses money donated by members of the public to buy and cook food for the Glasgow soup kitchen.
It is currently on the lookout for a building in which to create a welfare centre that is open 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Mr McInnes said: “It might give people hope and that sense of warmth that someone cares about them. We’re not looking for a building for free, just one that’s affordable.”
The charity is appealing to Glasgow City Council, the Scottish government and private landlords for help.
Glasgow City Council said it has tried to find a building, however none of the options so far have been deemed suitable by the charity.
A spokesperson said: “We have tried to find a suitable building for HPS to host their evening soup kitchen, but they have rejected the three options offered to them.
“HPS recently told us they now want somewhere that can open round-the-clock with a capacity for over 200 people.
“We are very sorry, but we just don’t have a place that matches the revised requirements set out by HPS.”
Dozens of people around the world have been arrested after police disrupted a UK-founded website scamming victims on an industrial scale.
LabHost, a site set up in 2021, tricked as many as 70,000 UK victims, obtaining 480,000 card numbers and 64,000 PINs worldwide, the Metropolitan Police said.
It was created by a criminal network and enabled more than 2,000 users to set up phishing websites designed to steal personal information such as email addresses, passwords and bank details.
Criminal subscribers could log on and choose from existing sites or request bespoke pages replicating those of trusted brands such as banks, healthcare agencies and postal services.
Person arrested in connection with the investigation. Pic: Met Police
The website even provided a tutorial to cater for wannabe fraudsters with limited IT knowledge, with a robotic voice saying at the end: “Stay safe and good spamming”.
Those subscribing to worldwide membership – meaning they could target victims all around the world – paid between £200 and £300 a month.
Since it began, the site has received just under £1m in payments from criminal users.
But just after it was seized and disrupted, its 800 customers got a message telling them that police knew who they were and what they were doing.
Thirty-seven people were arrested around the world, including some at Manchester and Luton airports, as well as in Essex and London.
Detectives have also contacted up to 25,000 UK-based victims to tell them their data has been compromised.
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Items seized by the Metropolitan Police. Pic: Met Police
Police began investigating LabHost in June 2022 after they were tipped off by the Cyber Defence Alliance – a group of British-based banks and law enforcement agencies which share intelligence.
Dame Lynne Owens, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said: “Online fraudsters think they can act with impunity. They believe they can hide behind digital identities and platforms such as LabHost and have absolute confidence these sites are impenetrable by policing.
“But this operation and others over the last year show how law enforcement worldwide can, and will, come together with one another and private sector partners to dismantle international fraud networks at source.”
Adrian Searle, director of the National Economic Crime Centre in the NCA, said: “This operation again demonstrates that UK law enforcement has the capability and intent to identify, disrupt and completely compromise criminal services that are targeting the UK on an industrial scale.”
Calls made to an anti-slavery helpline have reached a record high, with the number of potential victims in the care sector rising by almost a third.
According to anti-slavery charity Unseen, the number of calls to the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline in 2023 increased by more than 19%, up from 9,779 in 2022 to 11,700 last year.
Labour abuse remained the main form of exploitation up by 11% from 464 cases in 2022 to 516 in 2023.
Potential victims indicated in the care sector went up by 30% from 708 in 2022 to 918.
There was also a 21% increase in potential victims of criminal exploitation to 385 in 2023.
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Justine Carter, director of Unseen and co-author of the report, said: “Modern slavery and exploitation are heinous crimes that have no place in a modern, progressive UK that cares about human rights.
“It is encouraging that we are continuing to see rising numbers of calls and contacts to the Helpline, indicating that we are succeeding in raising awareness of the issue and mobilising more people to act.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Forced surrogacy was reported for the first time last year, with three potential victims indicated.
Following a case in 2022, four cases of organ harvesting were also reported.
The figures are part of the Helpline’s Annual Assessment, which covers potential victims from 106 different countries, up from 99 in 2022.
Nationals of India, Albania, Romania, Vietnam and China were the most commonly reported.
The number of potential victims was 5,876, down 10% on 2022 (6,516), while the number of modern slavery cases raised was 2,185, down 16% on 2022.
Ms Carter added: “We remain concerned that the ever-increasing hostile environment in the UK towards migrants and foreign workers means that fewer people feel able to raise concerns and seek the help and support that they desperately need.
“More needs to be done to encourage victims to come forward and to properly resource efforts to stamp out modern slavery and exploitation for good.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Modern slavery is a barbaric crime and we are committed to ensuring that needs-based support is available to victims to help them rebuild their lives, and to working with first responders to ensure victims understand the support and protection available.”
An MP has lost the Conservative Party whip while newspaper claims about alleged misuse of campaign funds are investigated.
Mark Menzies, the MP for Fylde, disputes the allegations reported by The Times but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims.
A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: “Following a call with the Chief Whip, Mark Menzies has agreed to relinquish the Conservative whip, pending the outcome of an investigation.”
Losing the whip means Mr Menzies is no longer a member of the Conservative parliamentary party and will sit as an independent MP, rather than a Tory MP, in the House of Commons chamber.
In a statement to The Times, Mr Menzies said: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a Member of Parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.
“The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said earlier on Wednesday that it was “frankly appalling” that the Conservative Party had allegedly been aware of the allegations for more than three months.
“Rishi Sunak must suspend the whip for Mark Menzies immediately, while all the relevant authorities investigate the matter,” she said.
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Mr Menzies has served as the MP for Fylde in Lancashire since May 2010.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Last week William Wragg, MP for Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, also gave up the whip after he admitted to The Times that he had given his colleagues’ phone numbers to someone he met on a dating app.
Scotland Yard said it is investigating reports of the so-called “honeytrap” scam after it was suggested at least 12 men in political circles received unsolicited messages, raising security concerns.
Mr Wragg also resigned as vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers and stepped down from his role heading the Commons’ public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
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