Squatting and Tory Truth – A ‘chat’ with Mad Mike

Mike Weatherly, MP for Hove, doesn’t want to engage with squatters in Brighton. He’s repeatedly ignored our offers to discuss his misguided beliefs over a cup of tea in a squatted social centre. Now he has published his ‘truth’ about squatting. This piece of shit began as a debate between him and an ineffective green councillor about the “significant problem” of squatting in Brighton.

Of course they didn’t ask any squatters for their views. So it’s time for someone stoop to reply to his vile fictions… The imagined conversation is below…

Mike
“A squatter in Brighton once complained to me that his father was late in sending him his monthly allowance of tobacco from Dubai”

Not Mike
Really Mike? Got any actual evidence for that assertion? Someone told me you were a complete twanger the other day. And do you know what, I believed her, based on the hard evidence that you talk rubbish.

Mike
This really hit home that the squatting debate is not about helping the homeless. It’s certainly not about making use of empty buildings. The argument boils down to whether or not society is willing to put up with the demands of one extremely narrow self-serving group who currently don’t pay for their housing arrangements.

Not Mike
Well, Mike. Figures recently released by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority show that in the year 2011/2012, you claimed £21,609.92 expenses for accommodation alone, presumably for that all-important second home in London. One extremely narrow self-serving group, namely Members of Parliament, do get their rent paid for them, but most people don’t have that enviable luxury. You are however right to suggest that society probably should not put up with this situation.

Despite what you think, homelessness charities do say that criminalisation is a very bad idea and fear the number of people sleeping rough will rise. Plus did you really say: “It’s not about making use of empty buildings” – there are more than 900,000 empty homes in the UK in a time of austerity and you make a comment like that? Off with their heads!

Mike
Why won’t they pay their fair share? Simple. A loophole exists, that was put in place to protect vulnerable tenants from Rachmanesque landlords. In reality, it prevents normal homeowners without costly court orders from throwing out individuals who have broken in.

Not Mike
The ‘loophole’ you refer to would be the law. The law protects people in possession of property from being attacked by thugs. When people occupy derelict or unused houses and use them for housing or indeed for activities, Section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act protects their possession, as well it should (and still does). And that’s why the rock bands you hold so dear such as Iron Maiden were able to start of their careers in squatted rehearsal spaces. And why a project like Grow Heathrow can take a trashed ex-market garden and start growing vegetables there again, with the full support of the local community, a community which incidentally is now threatened with a third runway again as the anticipated Conservative party policy U-turn approaches.

Mike
I say ‘exists’ but I meant ‘existed’. From 1st September, squatting in residential buildings has been a criminal offence. This means that people who go abroad and find others in the homes when they return, or people who are trying to sell an empty property, or others who are in the process of inheriting a property from a loved one, can sleep safely.

Not Mike
You clearly haven’t understood the law as it previously stood, Mike. As 160 lawyers argued, the rights of home-owners who went out for the proverbial pint of milk were already covered (get one of your minions, perhaps that lovely Robert Nemeth, to look up the term ‘Displaced Residential Occupier’). You said that the lawyers were “sadly out of touch” but actually, they are experts, unlike you. And some of these same experts have now ventured the opinion that the new offence of squatting in a residential building is both unnecessary and unworkable in practice. People in the process of inheriting a property are also protected under the term Protected Intending Occupier, which means that if there is a contract in existence the squatters can be evicted.

The simple fact is that squatters don’t take other people’s homes. Yes, there are a few notorious examples blown out of all proportion by the mainstream media, but even these cases are a bit more complex if one takes the time to look into them.

Mike
Any invasion can now be dealt with by the police. It also means that the police will no longer be able to get away with ignoring related offences such as breaking and entering, theft of utilities and criminal damage.

Not Mike
I’m sure the police do love being told what to do by some jumped-up idiot but let’s remember that squatters occupy buildings to use them. If all these offences are being committed then surely squatters would be charged with them, but they are not. Sometimes they are arrested for them, it’s true, but the charges are always dropped. Because they are groundless. The new law won’t change that at all. And I doubt whether people will actually get prosecuted under this new law either. Surprisingly perhaps, that’s even what some landlords think.

Mike
What has fascinated me throughout this whole campaign is the difference between the genuine homeless, who might sleep rough and be addicted to alcohol or drugs, and the often privileged individuals who choose to squat. It is incredibly saddening that squatters have tried to use this as a cover during their violent and expensive fight against this change to the law.

Not Mike
LOL. You seem to have forgotten that this was a difference which you dreamt up. You betray an utter lack of knowledge on this issues which is really shameful for someone in public office. Such incompetence makes it hard to think you will be re-elected despite your obvious skills for brown-nosing and bandwagon-jumping. In a BBC interview, you said that unnamed homelessness charities supported criminalisation, a spurious assertion which unfortunately went unchallenged until intrepid Schnews reporters questioned you further. Unable to cite any of the major groups, such as Crisis, Shelter or St Mungos, since they all had a clear anti-criminalisation stance, you mentioned a local charity, Off the Fence. However, the head of Off the Fence could only comment 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 went on to say: “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”.

You also said “show me a squat which has been made better by the squatters,” a laughable assertion which has already been comprehensively demolished.

Mike
Locally, we have seen council properties trashed by squatters which has added tens of thousands of pounds and months of delays to the refurbishment programme. This means that those who genuinely need help are currently not getting it. In Brighton & Hove, we have seen small businesses go under because they can’t afford to evict squatters.

Not Mike
Getting a little bit bored of your unreferenced assertions, Mike. Council properties trashed by squatters… care to name any?? I could give you a list of council properties which gave been left empty for years and are currently rotting away dilapidated.

To take a couple of examples, what about the villa on Ditchling Road, or Brookmead on Albion Street? These were both closed under a Tory Council before you try to blame the Greens. Moving away from Council-owned properties, what about the Hippodrome (empty since 2007), Anston House (empty since the 1980s) and so many other crumbling wrecks…

Mike
On that particular point, I shall not be shying away from the intimidation and threats that I have received from squatters. Alongside a drive to get commercial buildings back into use, I am now campaigning for a change in law that stops squatters from ransacking commercial buildings. Homeowners may now be safe but traders are still vulnerable to the squatting menace.

Not Mike
Aw Mike, don’t kid yourself that we give a shit about you. You are a scumbag, a pitiful excuse for a human being who cried when asked by the Daily Mail why his wife was a Brazilian prostitute. There’s no anger here, just pity.

I mean you worked as an accountant for Stock Aitken and Waterman .. you’ve had a really shit life … you idolise David Cameron … just keep holding onto that balloon ….