Starmer hosts veterans and charities at Downing Street ahead of Remembrance Day

The informal reception connected Friday was held aft Sir Keir pledged £3.5 cardinal successful enactment for veterans facing homelessness.

Peter Kent, 99, the oldest seasoned astatine the event, said helium was pleased by the summation successful backing and described Sir Keir arsenic a “good guy”.

Mr Kent is simply a D-Day seasoned who served successful the Royal Navy connected committee HMS Adventurer and HMS Hartland Point.

The backing volition spell towards a dedicated wraparound enactment work for veterans astatine hazard of oregon already experiencing homelessness and ensures they person entree to specializer enactment for employment and autarkic living.

The reception took spot successful the Terracotta Room and Pillared Room astatine Downing Street.

Guests included representatives from the Chelsea Pensioners, retired British soldiers surviving astatine the Royal Hospital Chelsea successful London, and Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a foundation for bereaved subject children.

Sir Keir greeted the Chelsea Pensioners with Mr Healey and Alistair Carns, curate for veterans and people.

Helen Maguire, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for defence, welcomed the backing boost.

“I was calling for this astatine the veterans’ statement the different day. It’s perfectly large that he’s (Sir Keir) listened to our calls for this,” she told the PA quality agency.

“There are truthful galore veterans that look homelessness and they merit immoderate other support.”

The Reducing Veteran Homelessness programme and Op Fortitude said that the backing volition besides assistance supply intelligence wellness support.

Veterans tin beryllium “proud individuals” who tin beryllium reluctant to question assistance connected intelligence wellness issues due to the fact that they consciousness determination is “a spot of a stigma”, she said.

“So hopefully the enactment volition spell and assistance them, truthful radical tin really scope retired to them and assistance them recognize that they really request support, to really assistance them determination guardant successful their lives.”