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Westminster Council has called for more government funding to help people from parts of eastern Europe who are sleeping rough on the city borough’s streets.

A £200,000 grant from the Home Office ends in October, but the council said this week that people would still need services after it ended.

People from eight of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 had restrictions placed on their right to work in other countries, but the UK opened its labour market with certain conditions.

Many nationals from these countries, including Poland, end up in Westminster because they arrive at Victoria coach station in the London borough.


Janet Haddington, the council’s manager of rough sleeping and street activities, said it was not calling on the government to renew the grant but to put more money into services for the nationals in general to reduce the risk of them sleeping rough.

A Home Office spokesperson said it was in talks with Westminster.