Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn said he will end rough sleeping in an impassioned speech to Southend supporters.

The leader of the opposition stood before more than 150 Labour members at the Park Inn Palace Hotel in Church Road to ask them to rally together and help him end rough sleeping for good.

He said: “Surely we can find it in ourselves to have a moral purpose, to end rough sleeping in this country.

“The government claims there are 4,000 rough sleepers around the country, I beg to differ. I think it is far far more than that.

Mr Corbyn told the Echo he plans to particularly concentrate his efforts on tackling the number of rough sleepers in seaside towns.

He said he recognised Southend had a seriously high number of rough sleepers in the town centre, and the workload to deal with the issue should not be left to local authorities and “underfunded” charities.

Mr Corbyn said: “Southend has a large number of rough sleepers, as does pretty well every other seaside town across the country.

“I spent the day, a couple weeks ago, in a day centre for homeless young people, and it was inspiring and depressing at the same time, because they were all excitable young people who wanted to contribute and achieve things.

“Somewhere along the line, as a country, we have sort of become accepting of the idea that there are several thousand people who sit in shop doorways, around train stations, and spend the day begging to get money to go into a night shelter.

Mr Corbyn added his party would help to ease the pressure on councils in seaside towns trying to help rough sleepers move on from hostels.

He said: “They should be getting on with their lives, not spending the day worried about which shelter was going to let them in that night.

“I am determined that a Labour government, as a matter of emergency, would purchase places for hostel accommodation.”