The families being unlawfully housed in single rooms by Croydon council

Published

2 months ago

March 7, 2024

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The mother of a homeless teenager who tried to take his own life has said he told her “mummy, I just can’t deal with it anymore”.

Mary (not her real name), 47, her son, 17, and her daughter, 12, have been living in one room of a bed and breakfast since they were evicted from a privately rented flat in November 2022 after the landlord decided to sell.

Under the Housing Act, it is unlawful for councils to keep households with children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation for more than six weeks.

The family have now been waiting for Croydon council to find them somewhere permanent to live for 15 months.

Mary showed Sky News her unanswered emails to the council notifying them of her son’s overdose and subsequent hospital stay.

Sky News has also seen an NHS assessment of her son’s mental health following his suicide attempt in January, which states: “One of the stressors indicated in our assessment was poor living condition…[he] described the place as tiny, lack of privacy, smells, personal space.”

The report goes on to suggest that other residents also pose a hazard: “We observed there is risk from others rating as moderate – [he] describes being in a nerve-racking environment, men wearing tags, unhygienic and loud chaotic hostel.”

It ends with the advice: “Explained to mum to lock all digestible and sharps in a box under lock and key.”

Sitting in the cramped room where they live, in a building with dozens of other residents, Mary explained how heartbreaking those words were to read.

“I feel as a mother, it’s like I let down my two children,” she said.

She told Sky News how her children ask if they’re moving out every day. She gets up at 4am to ensure she can send her children to school on time and arrive at her job as a care assistant.

The latest statistics from the government revealed 2,680 households with children had been in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than the statutory limit of six weeks. That’s up 121.5% from 30 September 2022 when the number was 1,210.

A short distance away in one room of a smaller converted terraced house, Rose, 21, is studying to become an air traffic controller. Her two daughters, four and one, are getting their toys out of plastic bags piled high in a corner.

This room is all Rose’s youngest daughter Liorra has known. They’ve been living here for a year and 10 months, waiting for the council to find them a permanent home. As a student, private rent in South London is out of the question for Rose.

But she worries constantly about the impact of being homeless on her children and the drug-taking of other residents right outside their room.

She said: “If my window’s open, everything comes in here, or they will just be blasting music and doing whatever they’re doing. And my kids are trying to sleep, but they can’t sleep.”

Croydon Council did not comment on the cases of Mary and Rose after being approached by Sky News. Instead, a spokesperson said: “Like other London councils, we are facing increasing demand for affordable accommodation.

“Unfortunately, this means that there are not always permanent homes available for families as quickly as we would like.”

One reason families are losing homes is landlords being forced to sell. The government promised to ban so-called no fault evictions, yet they’re happening at a growing rate.

A no fault eviction is when a landlord uses Section 21 of the Housing Act to notify a tenant that they have to leave without having to provide an explicit reason.

The number of households at risk of losing their homes under Section 21 notices rose to 25,180 in the year ending September 2023, according to government figures released last Thursday.

Terri is a landlady who had to evict a young family from a house in West Sussex after she began losing money.

She blames the economy, explaining: “The mortgage payments were £154 a month. They’ve now gone to £700 a month. The result of this is, sadly, I had to make a young mother and two young children a no fault eviction and they’ve had to leave the property.

Terri has a family of her own, and sympathises with how difficult it is to find a property.

“It’s actually broken my heart to do it. But at the end of the day, I’ve also got bills to pay myself and children to support.”

Additional reporting by Nick Stylianou, Communities producer and Sarah O’Connell, specialist producer.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

Politics

Boris Johnson pays tribute to polling station staff who refused to let him vote without photo ID

Published

6 hours ago

May 4, 2024

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Boris Johnson pays tribute to polling station staff who refused to let him vote without photo ID

Boris Johnson has paid tribute to the villagers who Sky News revealed turned him away from a polling station when he tried to vote without a valid photo ID – under rules he introduced.

The former prime minister said he attempted to cast his ballot using a magazine sleeve with his name and address on as proof but was prevented from doing so.

The requirement to provide photo ID was introduced by Mr Johnson during his time in Downing Street as part of the Elections Act 2022.

The move was controversial over fears it would bar people from voting, particularly among disadvantaged groups.

Local election live: Khan likely to cling on to London – as West Midlands on knife-edge

Mr Johnson had been seeking to vote in South Oxfordshire, where a police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley was being elected.

Writing in his Daily Mail column, he said: “I want to pay a particular tribute to the three villagers who on Thursday rightly turned me away when I appeared in the polling station with nothing to prove my identity except the sleeve of my copy of Prospect magazine, on which my name and address had been printed.

“I showed it to them and they looked very dubious… within minutes I was back with my driving licence and voted Tory.”

Sky’s election coverage plan – how to follow

The weekend: Sophy Ridge will host another special edition of the Politics Hub on Saturday from 7pm until 9pm. And Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips will take a look back over what’s happened from 8.30am until 10am.

How do I watch?: Freeview 233, Sky 501, Virgin 603, BT 313, YouTube and the Sky News website and app. You can also watch Sky News live here, and on YouTube.

The Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidsonis out now, and Politics at Jack and Sam’s will navigate the big question of where the results leave us ahead of a general election on Sunday.

You can also follow the latest on our politics page

Thursday’s election is the first time many voters in England and Wales have had to present ID to vote under provisions first rolled out at last year’s local elections.

As well as driving licences, other acceptable forms of ID include passports, proof of age cards, blue badges, and some concessionary travel cards.

The government has also said it intends to make veterans’ ID cards a valid form of voter identification after former service personnel were turned away.

Veterans’ minister Johnny Mercer apologised to those who had been unable to use the document to vote, vowing to “do all I can” to have it added to the list of valid identification.

Labour said the government has had years to ensure the card was included, having begun rolling out the scheme in 2019.

Politics

Labour has ‘searching’ to do after losing votes in areas with high Muslim population, Jess Phillips says

Published

6 hours ago

May 4, 2024

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Labour has 'searching' to do after losing votes in areas with high Muslim population, Jess Phillips says

The Labour Party has some “searching” to do following its underperformance in areas with a high Muslim population, according to MP Jess Phillips.

Speaking to political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Birmingham Yardley MP said her party will have to “wake up and face” the issues that lead to it losing seats to the Greens, independents and the Workers Party of Britain.

Ms Phillips said: “There are some issues with regards to independents and Greens that the Labour Party is going to have to wake up and face tomorrow morning, Monday morning, whenever it is.

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“There are some results in places, you know, Labour heartlands, where they maintain the council, of course, in places like Newcastle where the Greens are making strides.

“I very much expect, as the mayoral votes come in, that in places like Birmingham, Bradford, places with high Muslim populations, as we’ve seen overnight in Oldham, that the Labour Party will have some questions that they have, and some searching to do themselves.

“However, you cannot spin it any other way than this is a good night for the Labour Party.”

Analysis from Sky News shows that areas with a Muslim population below 5% saw the Labour Party’s vote share increase by 1.1 percentage points.

But areas with a Muslim population above 20% saw Sir Keir Starmer’s party lose 17.9 points from their vote share.

Local election results: Follow them as they come in here

One of the issues that is thought to be impacting the Muslim vote is Labour’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Labour lost control of councils in Oldham and Kirklees, with victories for independent candidates opposed to the party’s stance on the war in Gaza.

It is hard to crystallise the exact impact on the elections, as a number of Labour councillors have defected from the party over Labour’s stance on the Middle East conflict.

George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain also targeted Labour seats on the issue of Gaza, and won four – including unseating the deputy leader of Manchester council Luthfur Rahman in Longsight.

The BBC reported that Labour were pessimistic about their chances in the race for the West Midlands mayoralty – which covers Ms Phillip’s constituency – with one journalist saying a Labour source told them: “It’s the Middle East, not West Midlands that will have won Street the Mayoralty. Once again Hamas are the real villains.”

This was decried by the Labour Party on the record, with shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth saying: “This is utterly unacceptable. I’m pleased the Labour Party have quickly and rightly condemned it.

“This is a racist quote which has not come from anyone who is speaking on behalf of the party or whose values are welcome in the party.”

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, was asked on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge about whether the party’s stance will change.

She said the party does “recognise” the party’s stance on the conflict has been a “factor in some areas”.

Ms Cooper added there were areas where Gaza was “partly” a factor and there were also “council factors” as well.

She added: “So it’s lots of different things.

“But undoubtedly many people feel really strongly about this – and rightly because tens of thousands of people have been killed, including the majority of them women and children.

“We desperately need an immediate ceasefire, but we have the hostages released. We need the urgent humanitarian action that’s needed.”

Politics

Labour’s future success is less clear-cut after the local elections

Published

6 hours ago

May 4, 2024

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Labour's future success is less clear-cut after the local elections

We went into this set of local and mayoral elections with two big questions: Is Labour on course for a majority and how bad is it going to be for Rishi Sunak?

On the Sunak question, it’s a very clear-cut story.

The Tories are having as bad a night as their worst nightmare.

There is a 19-point drop in the Conservative vote compared with the 2019 general election – one of its worst performances ever.

But it’s not an all-out win for Labour, either.

As it stands on these results, the party is not on course for an outright majority at the general election, according to our election expert Professor Michael Thrasher.

The projected National Equivalent Vote (NEV) share – the model we use to translate local council elections into a nationwide vote share – puts Labour on 35%, short of the 40%-plus territory some see as needed to catapult Sir Keir Starmer into No 10 and way off what Blair was hitting in the 1995 and 1996 local elections ahead of his massive landslide.

If you want to benchmark against how it compares to Blair’s performance in the run-up to 1997, in the 1995 local elections, Labour achieved an NEV of 47%, while in 1996 the party hit a NEV of 43%.

So what might that mean for the maths in the House of Commons?

The Tory majority is wiped out – with Sunak projected to win a 25% vote share – and Labour becomes the largest party in parliament, but 32 seats short of an outright majority.

That would give them a gain of 93 seats to 294, with the Tories dropping 130 seats to finish with 242.

The Lib Dems would add 30 seats to have 38 MPs, with others up seven on 66.

That raises questions for Labour.

While the country is clear in these results that the government is the problem, they seem less sold on whether Keir Starmer is the answer.

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Of the 260 seats lost by the Conservatives in the council elections as of 5pm on Friday, Labour has picked up less than half as the vote goes to independent and smaller parties.

Labour will argue two things: that they are winning in key battlegrounds across the country they need to win a general election, while voters are likely to turn out in bigger numbers and vote for the main parties when it comes to selecting MPs rather than councillors.

Labour insiders tell me it’s “wrong” to say they are not on course to win a general election.

“We are very happy with the efficiency of the vote from every corner of the country, from Hartlepool down to Thurrock, from Avon and Somerset up to Redditch, millions of people have sent out a message so loud and clear that even the prime minister in his private jet must have heard it,” said one senior figure.

“Labour’s on course to win a majority. We are very happy with where we are. Others and independents won’t get 24% in the general election.

“The voter distribution is where we need to be. In places like Tees Valley we have a huge swing.

“Where do you think all those smaller and independents are going at a general election where there is only a choice of two parties?

“A nine per cent lead is more than enough to win a majority and we are winning the seats we need to win a majority.”

Local election results: Relief for Sunak in key mayoral race

And there are some signs of direct transfer of seats from Tory to Labour in key constituencies.

Rushmoor, a council Blair never won and has been Conservative for 51 years, has switched.

Redditch, in West Midlands, was a straight swap to Labour.

In Swindon, another general election bellwether, Labour extended their lead.

“It’s not just the Tories losing, it’s us winning Rushmoor, Redditch. Whoever wins Redditch wins the country, Thurrock, Hartlepool,” the senior figure added.

“So we are winning in every type of seat, the Red Wall and the Blue Wall.

“Take Rushmoor. The position of a changed Labour Party is showing. Very satisfying that in a general election year, when the Tories are trying to use national security as a dividing line, they lose the home of the British Army.”

For the Tories, it’s a horror show – pure and simple. In Welwyn Hatfield, Portsmouth and Peterborough they are hitting their lowest seats ever, passing records set in 1996 when Blair was Labour leader and on the cusp of a landslide.

But for all the good news for Labour, this is not a slam dunk by any means.

Because, in a nutshell, for all the seats the Tories are haemorrhaging, Labour is not by any means always their main beneficiary, as independents and smaller parties prosper from Conservative decline.

So take the nightmare of Peterborough for the Tories – Labour did well, but it was independents that picked up more seats.

Harlow is the same, with the party unable to unseat the Tories in a council they lost in 2021. The Conservatives lost 11 seats, but seven of those went independent rather than to Labour.

Labour is also struggling in some areas as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war are playing out at the ballot box.

Labour lost several seats to independents in Muslim majority wards, including in Blackburn with Darwen where the Labour vote share was down more than 20 points.

In the Muslim area of Elswick in Newcastle, the Labour vote share plummeted and this time the Greens gained.

The Greens’ co-leader Carla Denyer told Sky News the win was predominantly because of Gaza.

The Greens are picking up seats from the Conservatives too.

The Lib Dems so far are underwhelming after a soaring performance last year, they could pick up when results from the South West and South East start coming in.

There are still plenty of results to go, but what is clear from the counts so far is that Sunak’s Tories are into John Major territory in these last big ballot box tests before the general election.

But what is less clear-cut is whether Sir Keir Starmer is riding the sort of New Labour wave that brought Blair crashing into Downing Street with a landslide in 1997.