IT is a national disgrace that homelessness and rough sleeping are at an all-time high in the UK. We need to do better by the most vulnerable people in our society, but the Conservative Party doesn’t seem to care.

5,000 people sleep on the street every night in the UK, and not only has the Conservative government failed to address this growing crisis, they have actively contributed to it by:

  • Failing to build enough social housing
  • Failing to introduce measures to abolish no-fault evictions
  • Freezing benefits in 2015
  • Introducing the two-child limit in 2017
  • Ignoring the opinions of experts to recklessly roll-out their failing Universal Credit programme

The Liberal Democrats even tried to repeal the draconian Vagrancy Act – which makes it a criminal offense to sleep rough – but you can guess what happened: our efforts were blocked by the Tories.

This problem affects our whole country, but observant readers will have noticed how obvious it is in Darlington and the North-East. We now see rough sleepers on a daily basis in Darlington.

Darlington candidate Anne-Marie Curry and the Liberal Democrats have pledged to end rough sleeping within five years, and to ensure that every person in our society can live with dignity in a decent home.

But to do that, we have to prevent the Conservative party securing a majority during this election. Another Tory majority government means more people losing their homes and being forced onto the streets.

Electing Anne-Marie Curry in Darlington will give Jo Swinson one more MP to help deliver the party’s key manifesto commitments, and help create a fairer society.

With a Liberal Democrat majority, we can implement policies like:

  • Urgently publish a cross-Whitehall plan to end all forms of homelessness
  • Introduce a “somewhere safe to stay” duty with local authorities – including Darlington Borough Council – to provide immediate emergency accommodation
  • Repeal the Vagrancy Act, so rough sleeping is no longer criminalised

Click here to read our full list of how we will end rough sleeping in the UK

Britain goes to the polls in a week’s time. Britain deserves better than another Tory government to victimise the vulnerable. Vote Lib Dem.