HEARTLESS TO HIT HOMELESS

Flowers for a rough sleeper who died close to Parliament are respectful. But the best tribute would be to get these people off the streets and into homes.

In 1997 I was able to produce policies to reduce the number of people sleeping rough by three quarters. Tragically, the Tories dropped the policies and the number has soared 169 per cent to more than 4,750. Labour has promised to buy 8,000 vacant properties to solve this crisis. Last year the Tories set up a Rough Sleeping and Homeless Reduction Taskforce to tackle the problem... but they’ve never had a meeting. have dropped from 243,355 to 107,300. At the Open University, the number of part-time students has fallen 30 per cent and seven of nine regional offices will close.

But this new review isn’t independent and is forbidden to look at the problems of finance and resources, which are to be governed by the Government’s austerity programme.

What’s more alarming is that Education Secretary Damian Hinds is considering different fees for different universities.

Trade unions have financed Ruskin College for scholarships since the Twenties. Sadly, it no longer offers a two-year course and is facing more cutbacks.

Ruskin provided a lifeline and a second chance at education for people like me. It is time now for the unions, especially the general secretaries, to back my call for the Government to recognise this need for opportunities for working-class mature students.