Scottish ministers are to take part in a huge sleep out to raise money for a charity helping the homeless.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney will join more than 7,000 people for the Sleep in the Park fundraiser in Edinburgh, alongside Community Secretary Angela Constance and Housing Minister Kevin Stewart.
Around £2 million has already been raised by the event, which will be held in Princes Street Gardens on December 9.
It has been organised by Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, which helps the homeless through cafes, a restaurant and fundraising events.
Those attending will be entertained by Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, Amy Macdonald and Frightened Rabbit, and hear a bedtime story from John Cleese.
Mr Swinney said: "Each of us looks forward to joining the sleep out and being a part of such a strong movement bringing public attention to the daily experiences of those who experience homelessness and improving public recognition of the impact it can have, while working together to ensure it never has to.
"Together we can help make certain that everyone has a safe and warm place to live."
Mr Littlejohn said: "To have these politicians taking part in Sleep in the Park is an extraordinary vote of confidence in our plan to end homelessness.
"The fact they're giving up their beds for the night and agreeing to sleep rough shows that they are serious about eradicating homelessness in Scotland."
Members of the public have until December 1 to sign up to join Sleep in the Park, gaining entry by committing to fundraise at least £100.
Businesses can sponsor the event by signing up a team of five with a minimum fundraising commitment of £3,000.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel