Keir Starmer shares powerful Christmas message: ‘I want every child to have the security I had’

Keir Starmer has given an exclusive Christmas message to readers of the Big Issue in this week’s Christmas special edition, which goes on sale today (16 December).

The prime minister reflects on his history “fighting for families at risk of homelessness” and emphasises the need for “people with skin in the game” to be tasked with bringing down surging levels of homelessness in the UK.

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“As winter closes in and temperatures drop, too many people will be on the sharp end of our broken housing system this Christmas,” Starmer writes in his address. “Big Issue has worked tirelessly to tackle homelessness over 33 years.

“When I was growing up, our home was my family’s security. It wasn’t much, maybe – just a semi-detached house in Surrey – but for me, it was the base camp from which I could learn and grow.

“Some years later, as a lawyer, many of my first cases were fighting for families at risk of homelessness, because I wanted every child to have that security I had.”

Recent figures illuminated the growing scale of homelessness in the UK, which is now higher than at any other point in the 21^st century. Official figures published in late November found that 123,100 households were living in temporary accommodation by the end of June 2024 – a staggering 16.3% higher than the same quarter in 2023.

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is now chairing a cross-governmental group on tackling homelessness. She has promised to move beyond “sticking plaster approaches” to fixing the issue.

“I’ve always believed people with skin in the game make the best decisions,” Starmer tells the Big Issue. “That’s why we are also fixing the foundations of local government. We have already given councils more flexibility to use Right to Buy receipts to build and buy more social homes. That’s on top of an additional £450m for councils to secure homes for families at risk of homelessness.”

Lord John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, recently challenged Keir Starmer’s government to take harder action on homelessness in light of the damning new figures. “This is a crisis our new government must get to grips with, urgently. We can’t afford to wait for better economic times to roll over the hill.

“We must do all we can to deal with the crisis of homelessness and rough sleeping, but we have also to start reducing the number of people falling into it. The billion upon billion spent on people in poverty only maintains them in poverty; brings them relief, but not exit.”

You can read the prime minister’s festive address in full in this week’s Big Issue. Buy from your local vendor, or if you can’t get to their pitch, show your support by purchasing a Vendor Support Kit at bigissue.com/Christmas.

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