I often disagree with and dislike things that come from this government, but a recent speech by Suella Braverman as the Home Secretary left me outright appalled.

The Home Secretary announced she wants to ban rough sleepers using tents.

Yes, a leading Conservative politician and senior member of the government wants to stop those without a roof over their head having any shelter whatsoever – and even punish those that donate tents to the homeless.

Suella Braverman has sadly put this heartless plan in the proposed Criminal Justice Bill.

I think this is grim politics from a desperate government which knows its days are numbered. It is also a new low for Braverman to criminalise homeless charities for simply trying to keep vulnerable people warm and dry in winter.

Across the country, the public raise millions of pounds for homeless people at this time of year, and the government’s response is to criminalise those charities trying to help. This policy will do nothing to stop rough sleeping and will leave vulnerable people to face the harsh weather conditions without any shelter whatsoever. Thankfully, there is understandably huge objections to this awful idea.

The heads of 15 homelessness charities, including Crisis, Centrepoint and The Passage, have said that this crackdown would push more people into destitution without addressing homelessness and cause a totally preventable rise in deaths.

Leaders of 119 local authorities have called on the government to help with what they are seeing as a homelessness and temporary accommodation crisis.

Councils want action in the forthcoming the autumn statement. Namely, they have asked for an increase in local housing allowance rates to a level that covers at least 30 per cent of local market rent, an additional £300 million for discretionary housing payments for the next two financial years and a £150 million top-up to the homelessness prevention grant.

As you can hopefully tell, helping the homeless and stopping people having to sleep rough on the streets is an issue close to my heart. When I had the honour of serving as the mayor of Woking, I choose our borough’s local homeless shelter, the York Road Project, as my mayoral charity. I was pleased to spend my year as mayor raising tens of thousands of pounds for this vital local charity and raising awareness of York Road.

The project has a night-shelter, unsurprisingly in York Road, to enable people to get off the streets, five move-on properties and a day care in Goldsworth Road. Thanks to this amazing charity, its dedicated staff and passionate volunteers, people in Woking have a safety net if they fall on hard times.

With the clocks changed, Winter definitely upon us and Christmas on the horizon – I urge anyone locally who is able to, to please donate to the York Road Project at this vulnerable time for the most vulnerable members of our society. To donate, please visit https://www.yorkroadproject.org.uk