Prostitution meeting in Eastville

Really good meeting this morning in Eastville, with the Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker.

A very good turnout from local residents and some terrible accounts of just what they have to go through on a daily basis, from stepping over drugged-up prostitutes' bodies in the stairwells of their flats to seeing men in easily identifiable work vans kerb-crawling in the middle of the day. And a number of people raised the question, just what to tell the children when they ask what's going on? Haven't got time to say much more now, but I do want to make it clear that today's meeting was the start, not the end, of the consultation. I'll be meeting with Vernon again in London to discuss how we can take things forward, and also following up with the police and Safer Bristol Partnership, who were at the meeting too. We won't solve the problem overnight, but we can make a start.