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WAKE UP!! IT’S YER WEATHERLY LIKE IT OR NOT...
The free weekly direct action newsheet published in Brighton since 1994 - Copyleft - Information for Action

TREACHEROUS WEATHERLEY

EXschCLUSIVE - anti squatting mp for hove mike weatherley exposes himself

Mike Weatherley, the Tory MP for Hove & Portslade - architect of the squatting bill (see SchNEWS 794)  -  has spent much of his first 18 months in power attacking the homeless in his own constituency under the guise of a crackdown on 'lifestyle squatters'. For the most part his campaign has been dominated by a collection of factually inaccurate soundbites. His 'facts' about squatting have been repeatedly rebutted (including in an open letter from 160 lawyers – see SchNEWS 791) but Mike soldiers on.

One argument Mr 'Fair' Weatherley has used to deflect criticism of his anti-squatting campaign has been the supposed support from numerous homeless charities. Funny then, that most of these charities publicly opposed the criminalisation of squatting and said as much in the government's own consultation on the issue. Confused by this apparently contradictory stance, one of Mike's constituents emailed him to ask “You claim homeless charities support the criminalisation of homelessness, Crisis, Shelter, St Mungos and more don't - which do?”

Mike could only come up with one: Off The Fence, a Hove based charity and, according to the MP, “We have had many long discussions about homelessness and how the Council, and the government, could do better. But they agree with me that lifestyle squatters are not homeless persons in the main.”

Well, it's perhaps not that surprising that, if you try hard enough, you'll find one charity to back your argument up, but our intrepid citizen journalist was, for some reason, less than convinced by multiple liar Mike Weatherley's reply and contacted Off The Fence himself. Explaining his discussions with the MP he asked to be told, “What Off The Fence's position on squatting is?”

The response was not entirely supportive of Mikey boy's position.

Firstly Paul Young, CEO of Off the Fence, stated that “Mike Weatherley has never talked to me or the Trustees about squatting. One million empty houses in UK is criminal. Anyone saying that Off the Fence's position is to criminalise squatting would be wrong”. He then clarified Off The Fence's official position as: "In regards to squatting, the only criminal element is properties that are left empty, while people are freezing to death on the streets of this City".

Well Mr Weatherley, SchNEWS believes that burning smell may be emanating from your Marks&Spencer's Y-fronts.

 

Comments and Corrections:

Mick contacted us pissed off that we'd spelled his name Weatherly not Weatherley. We've since given him a E and he seems to have chilled out now. Honest!

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UPDATE: The sh*t's well and truly hit the fan since we published this interview last week... Stay tuned for more SchNEWS from the front...

Mike Weatherley, the M.P behind the squatting ban, due to deliver a talk on the new squatting legislation, at the University of Sussex today, was instead chased off campus by students and protesters.

Land occupiers fight back as cops try to evict for airport development in France

Out of the squats and into the er... prisons. As, Alex Haigh, the first squatter to be sent down under S.144 recieves three months.

Squatters Legal Network offer support and advice to cracking addicts.

North London library, closed by cuts, opened by squatters.

Predictably enough it was Brighton squatters who found themselves first in the firing line of Hove MP Mike Weatherley's new anti-squatting law.







Twitter: @SchNEWS