Britain’s homeless question whether to vote in the general election when political promises always fall short
Trevor is too scared to sleep in a tent at night like the other rough sleepers.
He sleeps on a park bench or in a doorway. It’s safer.
“Some people come along and set your tent on fire,” he tells me.
He says no one ever zips up their sleeping bags or tent doors in case they need to escape quickly.
This shocking story of the dangers faced by being homeless on the streets of London doesn’t seem to shock Trevor. It’s just part of life, he says.
“There’s no point reporting it to the police, they won’t do anything.”
At 53 years old, Trevor has been homeless for the best part of a decade.
Trevor often sleeps on a park bench or in a doorway
In and out of temporary accommodation, night shelters and hostels. He says he’s tired.
But he’s also fed up with what he says is a long line of broken political promises that have failed to tackle Britain’s worsening housing crisis.
“Every government has always said that they are going to solve this problem. But none of them have,” he says.
Trevor is right. Because the latest figures are stark and reveal a worsening situation.
In the run-up to the election, all of the political parties are promising to tackle the issue.
A ‘source of national shame’
The annual rough sleeping snapshot provides the government’s estimate for how many people were rough sleeping on a given night in autumn 2023.
It shows that 3,898 people were sleeping rough across England, an increase of 27% on the previous year.
And the number of people sleeping rough is now 61% higher than it was 10 years ago.
The Conservatives defend their record despite not having met their 2019 manifesto promise to build 300,000 new homes a year.
Broken political promises that have failed to tackle Britain’s worsening housing crisis
While Labour says they want to build 1.5 million new homes in their first five years in power.
But crucially, there is no target for the number of affordable or social homes Labour would build.
And that is central to easing the housing crisis, according to Matt Downie, chief executive of the homeless charity Crisis.
“The scale of rough sleeping is now a source of national shame. It is a sign of extreme inequality and must prompt a rethink at the highest levels of government,” he says.
Trevor has been homeless for the best part of a decade
“It cannot be overstated how dehumanising sleeping on the streets is. Through our frontline services we hear directly from people who have been spat at, urinated on or attacked simply because they do not have the security of a safe home. Things have got to change.
“To bring these numbers down, we urgently need Westminster to put long-term funding into the proven solutions. We need to see a commitment to build the levels of social housing we need every year.”
For Trevor, who is desperate to find a place to call home, the sums do not add up.
In his area of Brent, northwest London, rooms rent for upwards of £1,000 a month. He has come to a Crisis drop-in centre to get help.
But they are busier than ever, explains operations manager Nick Bradshaw.
Nick Bradshaw says Crisis has seen a 40 to 50% increase in some of the people approaching them for support
“Over the last six months, we’ve seen a 40 to 50% increase in some of the people approaching us for support. Which is huge,” Mr Bradshaw says.
“We’re seeing a lot more older adults in their 60s, 70s and 80s who have been in insecure accommodation, who are not able to stay there any more or have been sofa surfing.”
A rise in older homeless people
This rise in older people needing help is worrying charities like Crisis.
Older people can be more vulnerable, struggle with their health and can be harder to house because they might have less financial stability.
Homelessness among those aged 65 onwards has jumped by 13% in the last year. Now almost 14,000 people are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, according to the charity Independent Age.
Cleon Riley, 67, has been homeless since his partner died
At the drop in centre, I meet 67-year-old Cleon Riley, who has lived in this area all his life.
He tells me his partner died last month and the landlord wanted him out of the flat they shared.
“The landlord changed the locks and I was out on the street,” he says.
He tells me that one landlord wanted £1,000 for a room. He cannot afford that. So he has been sleeping in a night shelter and wandering the streets during the day.
This centre is full of people who have been let down by the housing system. Most here tell me they feel forgotten about.
But there is one thing they can do to make their voices heard.
‘I don’t have faith in politics’
In the kitchen area, the homeless men are being urged to sign up to vote in this election.
Trevor is looking over the forms he needs to fill out in order to vote on 4 July.
Trevor hasn’t voted since Brexit
He says he has always tried to vote. Brexit was the last time he went to a polling station.
“I don’t have much faith in politics or the government. I don’t think they’ve given me much inspiration recently,” he says.
And it is perhaps understandable that Trevor feels this way.
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The COVID pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis has not just hit the homeless hard. Britons have seen the biggest drop in living standards in a generation and public services are stretched.
I ask Trevor if he will vote. He’s not sure.
“Who am I voting for? Voting for change? What change? I’m 53 years of age. Nothing will change for us after this election. It’s like we’ve been forgotten.”
Britain has “lost control” of its borders over the last five years, the defence secretary told Sky News after the highest number of migrants this year crossed the Channel.
John Healey told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the previous Conservative government left the UK’s asylum system “in chaos” and the country with “record levels of immigration”, which his government is having to deal with.
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On Saturday, 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK on 18 small boats, government figures showed – the highest number of arrivals in a day so far this year (the previous record was 825 on a day in May).
It brings the provisional total for 2025 so far to 14,811 – the highest ever recorded for the first five months in a year and the highest total for the first six months of the year, which was previously 13,489 on 30 June last year.
2025’s total so far is 42% higher than the same point last year (10,448), and 95% up from the same point in 2023 (7,610).
The highest daily total since data began in 2018 remains at 1,305 on 3 September 2022.
Migrants were seen scrambling to get on small boats in the shallows of a beach at Gravelines, France, on Saturday. Pic: PA
On Saturday, French police watched on while people, including children, boarded small boats in the shallows of a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk.
Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats as they sailed off towards the UK.
Mr Healey said: “Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday.
“Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.”
He said it is a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.
Migrants waited for the boats to come to the beach before wading in to the shallows to board. Pic: PA
“We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,” Mr Healey added.
He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.
“They’re not doing it, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed,” Mr Healey said.
“We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.”
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Migrants waited on the beach at Gravelines before boarding boats to the UK. Pic: PA
People waded through the shallows to get on small boats. Pic: PA
On Saturday, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “completely lost control of our borders”.
The Home Office released figures on Thursday that revealed France is intercepting fewer Channel migrants than ever before, despite signing a £480m deal with the UK to stop the crossings.
French police watched on as migrants boarded the boats in the water at Gravelines. Pic: PA
French authorities escorted the boats after they left the beach. Pic: PA
This year, French police have prevented just over 38% (8,347) of asylum seekers from reaching the UK in small boats, with 13,167 having made the journey successfully.
They stopped an estimated 45% last year and 47% in 2023.
New weapons factories will be built “very soon” to show Vladimir Putin the UK is “stepping up our deterrents”, the defence secretary has told Sky News.
Last night, the government announced at least six new arms plants as part of a £6bn push to rearm at a time of growing threats.
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No details on timings or where the factories would be were provided ahead of the publication of the government’s strategic defence review, which the £6bn investment will be part of, on Monday.
But Defence Secretary John Healey told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “We should expect to see new factories opening very soon.
“And we’ve already got strong munitions factories in every part of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The investment we’re making will boost the jobs in those areas as well.”
Mr Healey said Vladimir Putin should know the UK is stepping up its deterrents. Pic: Sputnik/AP
Asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin should be “frightened now” or in the future, Mr Healey said: “The message to Putin is we take our defence seriously, we’re stepping up our deterrents.”
The government also announced it would buy up to 7,000 long-range missiles, rockets and drones as part of the £6bn rearmament strategy.
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Mr Healey said he has “no doubt” defence spending will hit 3% of GDP in the next parliament.
He defended not trying to get to that in this parliament – by 2029 – and said: “It’s how much [is spent on defence], but also how you spend it.”
The defence secretary said his government is showing a sense of urgency by investing £1bn into cyber warfare capabilities, £1.5bn to improve forces’ housing over the next five years and a £6bn commitment to “rearm” over the next five years.
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Finding extra cash to get to 3% this parliament seems unlikely
John Healey says the “transformation” of Britain’s armed forces and the industrial base needed to keep them supplied with weapons to be set out in tomorrow’s strategic defence review will be affordable within the government’s existing defence spending plans.
That’s a timetable which will see 2.3% of GDP increase to 2.5% by 2027, with an “ambition” to ratchet up to 3% in the next parliament, if economic circumstances allow.
Mr Healey’s repeated assertion this weekend that he has “no doubt” the UK will be spending 3% within the next parliament clearly puts pressure on the Treasury to stump up the cash.
Today, he was at pains to clarify that this optimism is based on his confidence in the chancellor and growth returning to the UK economy.
But even translating this ambition into a concrete commitment would only see 3% by 2034 – in nine years. There’s an obvious tension between this leisurely timescale and the sabre-rattling urgency of the government’s messaging.
Writing in the Sun on Sunday, the prime minister promised to “restore Britain’s war fighting readiness”, warning “we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces”.
Mr Healey told Sir Trevor Phillips the idea is to send a message to Vladimir Putin that “we take our defence seriously”.
But he also couldn’t give an exact date when the six new munitions factories would be up and running.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are both calling for 3% to be reached within this parliament. But in a landscape of planned spending cuts – and with so many competing demands for money – finding any extra cash any time soon looks highly unlikely.
Robert Jenrick said he could not be sure the chancellor will allow 3% of GDP to be spent on defence
Senior Conservative Robert Jenrick told Trevor Phillips he welcomed “any extra investment in defence” and the fact Labour had reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.
However, he said: “We want to see the UK reach 3% within this parliament, we think that 2034 is a long time to wait, given the gravity of the situation.”
He called Mr Healey “a good man” who is “doing what needs to be done in the national interest”.
But he added: “I am sceptical as to whether Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is going to make good on these promises.
“Since the general election, all I can see are broken promises from Rachel Reeves.”
The UK will buy up to 7,000 long-range missiles, rockets and drones and build at least six weapons factories in a £1.5bn push to rearm at a time of growing threats.
The plan, announced by the government over the weekend, will form part of Sir Keir Starmer’s long-awaited Strategic Defence Review, which will be published on Monday.
However, it lacks key details, including when the first arms plant will be built, when the first missile will be made, or even what kind of missiles, drones and rockets will be purchased.
The government is yet to appoint a new senior leader to take on the job of “national armaments director”, who will oversee the whole effort.
Andy Start, the incumbent head of Defence Equipment and Support – the branch of defence charged with buying kit – is still doing the beefed-up role of national armaments director as a sluggish process to recruit someone externally rumbles on.
Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a presentation of Ukrainian military drones. Pic: Reuters
Revealing some of its content ahead of time, the Ministry of Defence said the defence review will recommend an “always on” production capacity for munitions, drawing on lessons learned from Ukraine, which has demonstrated the vital importance of large production lines.
It will also call for an increase in stockpiles of munitions – something that is vitally needed for the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force to be able to keep fighting beyond a few days.
Sky News will launch a new podcast series on 10 June based around a wargame that simulates an attack by Russia against the UK to test Britain’s defences
“The hard-fought lessons from [Vladimir] Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them,” John Healey, the defence secretary, said in a statement released on Saturday night.
“We are strengthening the UK’s industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad.”
Army Commandos load a 105mm Howitzer in Norway. Pic: Ministry of Defence/PA
The UK used to have a far more resilient defence industry during the Cold War, with the capacity to manufacture missiles and other weapons and ammunition at speed and at scale.
However, much of that depth, which costs money to sustain, was lost following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when successive governments switched funding priorities away from defence and into areas such as health, welfare and economic growth.
Even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and a huge increase in demand from Kyiv for munitions from its allies, production lines at UK factories were slow to expand.
A reaper drone in the Middle East. Pic: Ministry of Defence
Sky News visited a plant run by the defence company Thales in Belfast last year that makes N-LAW anti-tank missiles used in Ukraine. Its staff at the time only worked weekday shifts between 7am and 4pm.
Under this new initiative, the government said the UK will build at least six new “munitions and energetics” factories.
Energetic materials include explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics, which are required in the manufacturing of weapons.
There were no details, however, on whether these will be national factories or built in partnership with defence companies, or a timeline for this to happen.
There was also no information on where they would be located or what kind of weapons they would make.
King Charles visits HMS Prince of Wales. Pic: PO Phot Rory Arnold/Ministry of Defence/PA
In addition, it was announced that the UK will buy “up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons for the UK Armed Forces”, though again without specifying what.
It is understood these weapons will include a mix of missiles, rockets and drones.
Sources within the defence industry criticised the lack of detail, which is so often the case with announcements by the Ministry of Defence.
The sources said small and medium-sized companies in particular are struggling to survive as they await clarity from the Ministry of Defence over a range of different contracts.
One source described a sense of “paralysis”.
The prime minister launched the defence review last July, almost a year ago. But there had been a sense of drift within the Ministry of Defence beforehand, in the run-up to last year’s general election.
The source said: “While the government’s intentions are laudable, the lack of detail in this announcement is indicative of how we treat defence in this country.
“Headline figures, unmatched by clear intent and delivery timelines which ultimately leave industry no closer to knowing what, or when, the MOD want their bombs and bullets.
“After nearly 18 months of decision and spending paralysis, what we need now is a clear demand signal from the Ministry of Defence that allows industry to start scaling production, not grand gestures with nothing to back it up.”
As well as rearming the nation, the government said the £1.5bn investment in new factories and weapons would create around 1,800 jobs across the UK.
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