Back in January, when temperatures were dropping, I led a debate in Parliament calling on the government to scrap the Vagrancy Act, an archaic piece of legislation that makes sleeping rough illegal and degrades homeless people.

Today, Crisis have launched their report Scrap the Act: The case for repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824 and the case is strong; homelessness has increased substantially over the last 10 years and those of us living and working in our country’s cities are seeing it every day.

The report suggests the Act, which is used in varying degrees and inconsistently among police forces, be repealed, along with other more modern legislation being reformed if necessary, moving people towards specialist services and where possible, housing.

This is already the approach in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It shouldn’t take this long for England and Wales to catch up.

Thousands of people have signed our petition to scrap the Act following my Private Member’s Bill. And over the last six months, momentum has been gathering pace.

We have the backing of not only Crisis, but Centrepoint, St Mungo’s and other homelessness charities too, and now we need the backing of the next Prime Minister.

As a former Mayor of London, homelessness should be high on the agenda of Boris Johnson, should it be he that makes it into Number 10.

Sajid Javid already has the power to do this now. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it is also a vote winner.

It is utterly counterproductive to treat those that cannot afford to feed themselves with fines, and in some cases, imprisonment.

In reality, the most productive thing it achieves is to move people on from areas in which their presence is deemed undesirable.

We saw this last year in Windsor for the Royal Wedding in an attempt to airbrush our social issues for a global audience.

The numbers that face prosecutions under this Act are relatively small, though still hundreds a year, it is the principle that sends the true message.

What does this tell people about us as a nation that sets the agenda and standards across the world? That we pass people on like problems that we don’t want. I believe we are a more compassionate and caring country than that.

Since becoming an MP two years ago, I have spoken to many of those accessing support for homelessness and its causes, and I have also spoken to many homeless people that feel failed by the system and haven’t engaged.

Their message is loud and clear: people want to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their circumstances, and they deserve to.

There is no one singular cause of homelessness, but there are productive measures that could help, the housing first approach introduced by the Homelessness Reduction Act is critical but it is stifled by cuts to local government funding and incoherent approaches to social housing.

A more radical evidenced based step would be to not only properly fund addiction services and safe spaces in which drugs can be used, but to also regulate their illegal trade.

Criminalising those that are unable to defend themselves is for me, inhumane and in no way representative of the caring and responsible nature that I believe we possess as a country.

Our government need to recognise that, and they have no excuse. Westminster is one of the worst affected areas in the country, and though measures have been taken to ensure that homeless people do not taint the entrances to Parliament, an area within Westminster station that provides shelter and warmth for those sleeping rough.

And very little effort is being made to protect the short and long term interests of those who are driven to such desperate measures.

There are cases all over the country that should shame us as a society, and it is tragic and unjust that it is frequently only when fatalities occur that these issues come to the fore.

My campaign has been running for over a year and during that time I have seen support begin to grow, across all parties, but we need to see that from those sitting on the government benches.

I hope that when my bill comes back to the House of Commons, whenever the government decide to prioritise this, that this cruel and callous legislation is scrapped, and that it doesn’t take a series of avoidable tragedies to get us there.

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