Living rough stats double

MORE than twice as many people are sleeping rough in Tory Britain as was previously thought.

A team at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh found 9,100 rough sleepers – after estimates of 4,100.

The study, for charity Crisis, also said 8,900 sleep in tents or cars, more than 12,000 live in squats and 68,300 are sofa-surfing.

Rough sleepers look set to rise by three-quarters in the next decade.

Labour Shadow Housing Minister John Healey said: “It is a national scandal.”