PM promises to mount ‘Covid-style campaign’ to get homeless people off streets in winter

Rayner also insisted that it is not a demotion for the chancellor that No 10 North will be taking charge of driving economic growth.

Asked by Sky News whether it was a demotion for John Healey, Rayner said:

Not at all, no. The chancellor is working really hard with the prime minister, with myself and other cabinet colleagues.

You’ll have seen the statement that the cabinet made I think now two weeks ago, where we were really clear on our intent to put devolution and community empowerment at the heart of this government.

So working with No 10 North around how we devolve and work with businesses, with local partners to drive that economic investment in local areas, because they know what their economy is like, they know what the challenges are that they face, but they feel powerless at times when the power is so centrally controlled in Whitehall.

And what we’re all saying, including the chancellor, is that we’re going to work with partners to ensure that they feel empowered in this process, so they can drive their local economies.

We’ve got to keep a relentless focus on it. I think that’s the message from both what happened at the pandemic and also what happened in Greater Manchester.

The other lesson from Greater Manchester is it’s really difficult to do in isolation. We saw the figures go down, but obviously then we drew in people from other areas into Greater Manchester who knew that there were an offer there …

It’s not just about taking people off the streets, it’s about that longer-term and medium-term goal of giving them the support they need to then get them a more secure housing situation, to get them employment, to get them support if they’ve got mental health or addiction issues.

So it’s a real drive to not just, you know, get people off the streets this winter and to solve it, but then for us to come back again next year.