Politics Unpacked: No rest for MPS with criminalising homlessness, reacting to Gaza aid-workers deaths and local elections
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00:00 Hello and welcome to another episode of Politics Unpacked with me, Rafe Blackburn, National
00:14 World's Politics Editor here at Westminster. And it's recess for the next couple of weeks
00:20 in Westminster but that doesn't mean it's quiet for Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer or any
00:26 of the other party leaders. That's because we have the local elections coming up on the
00:30 2nd of May in just under a month's time. That's when councils across England will elect their
00:38 councillors and there's also more than 10 mayoral contests as well, including the Mayor
00:43 of Greater Manchester, the Liverpool region and also here in London. So for the next few
00:51 weeks leading up to the local elections and also up to the general, I'll be heading around
00:56 the country to get a gauge on the key issues for voters. And this week I'll be going to
01:01 Bristol. Bristol City Council has held the elections for all of its councillors. There
01:08 won't be a mayoral election this time as the city voted to get rid of the mayor. So I'll
01:15 be going to Bristol to gauge the key issues for voters there and in particular we'll be
01:19 looking at how well the Greens are doing. The Greens were the largest party ahead of
01:25 the elections and if they won a majority in the South West City that would be their biggest
01:31 council so far. They'll also be hoping to add to their tally of MPs at the next general
01:40 election. They currently have one, Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion. However their
01:43 co-leader Carla Denya is going to be standing in the newly created seat of Bristol Central.
01:50 And you know, Bristol, one of the traditionally one of the kind of most left wing cities in
01:55 the country. The Greens will be hoping a good local election campaign, may the second can
02:00 be a great springboard for their co-leader to add another seat to them for them in Parliament.
02:07 So this Sunday will mark the sixth month anniversary of Hamas's attacks on Israel on October the
02:14 7th. And since then, obviously the war in Gaza has raged and is showing no signs of
02:23 ending any time soon. And it has become the leading news story once again this week in
02:29 Westminster following the IDF strike on an A convoy in which three Britons were killed.
02:36 And that's when Israel is coming under increasing pressure from the UK and the US. Last night,
02:42 Rishi Sunak held a call with the Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu, when he gave his strongest
02:50 words showing that the UK might be ready to reduce its support for Israel. He said he
02:57 was absolutely appalled at the attack. He said there needed to be a thorough independent
03:02 investigation. He said too many civilians and aid workers had been killed. Journalists
03:07 have been killed as well. It's important to note. And he said the situation was becoming
03:12 increasingly intolerable. Now, more than 30,000 people have been killed. It's estimated almost
03:18 the majority of them has been Palestinians. And the main discussion this week in Westminster
03:24 is whether the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel, something it currently does. The
03:32 government has so far still refused to say whether Israel has broken humanitarian law.
03:38 This is something journalists pretty much ask the UK government every week. It says
03:42 it's continually keeping that under assessment, how it still refuses to say whether it has
03:49 broken humanitarian law. However, there is more and more pressure starting to build up
03:54 on the government to at least suspend the armed sales. And, you know, like we just heard
04:01 then, Rishi Sirak is also, you know, being far stronger when Benjamin Netanyahu has been
04:09 previously.
04:10 Will rough sleepers and homeless people get arrested for smelling bad? Now, this is not
04:15 a story I expected to be talking to you about this week. However, it's another kind of controversy
04:23 which the government has been caught up in based around its criminal justice bill. So
04:29 this bill was started by the former Home Secretary, Suella Bradman. You may remember her comments
04:34 just before she was sacked. You know, she said being homeless and sleeping in tents
04:39 was a lifestyle choice. She said she thought that cities in England were in danger of being
04:44 taken over by the homeless. And she also said that she wanted charities to be banned from
04:49 giving tents to rough sleepers. Now, the government has certainly toned down its language around
04:54 this since then. However, a section of rough sleepers and the homeless has been made part
05:01 of this criminal justice bill, which is a wide ranging bill which covers sex offenders,
05:06 drugs offenses, knife crimes. And it also has this section to update laws around rough
05:12 sleepings. Now, critics of this bill say it's far too wide ranging and effectively criminalizes
05:19 people for being homeless. And there's a section which allows police to arrest nuisance rough
05:24 sleepers if they cause damage to society. And this includes, you know, excessive smell.
05:30 Now, cabinet ministers have come out and said that people should not be arrested for smelling
05:34 bad. You think that is fairly obvious. However, there's a growing number of conservative backbench
05:39 MPs who want the government to tweak this bill as they say, you know, like with the
05:44 section around swelter, it's simply too wide ranging and effectively allows rough sleepers
05:49 to be arrested for almost anything. Now, there are reports that the government has paused
05:53 this bill, and they're basically trying to get negotiate with this backbench rebellion
05:58 before it comes forward for the third reading, which is the next stage of the bill in parliament
06:03 behind me. The government itself says that updating the kind of outdated Vagrancy Act,
06:10 which was, you know, created during the Napoleonic War. So it's, you know, very out of date.
06:15 However, critics say this is in many ways worse. So we'll see, you know, when that bill
06:21 progresses, whether it's changed, whether these backbench MPs have a bit of an impact.
06:25 In the meantime, thanks for watching another episode of politics unpacked with me, Ralph
06:30 Blackburn, National Wales politics editor here in Westminster. You can find all of our
06:35 politics stories on the section or our website or app. And you can also on the website, subscribe
06:41 to our weekly email, which keeps up with every single day. Thanks very much.
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