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A nine-year-old girl received the biggest cheer of the night during a demonstration against the housing bill as she told the government: “We are stronger than you.”

Molly Gledhill climbed onto a bench outside the Town Hall and told the 100-strong crowd: “I am the future and we can stop what they are doing.”

Islington Kill the Housing Bill organised the protest in Upper Street on Friday night, with some people pitching tents and sleeping out to make the point that the Housing and Planning Bill will increase homelessness.

Council and housing association tenants fear the “pay-to-stay” plans, under which households earning more than £40,000 will be charged sky-high market or near-market rents, will force people onto the streets.

The bill has been getting a rough ride in the House of Lords, suffering three successive defeats in key votes, but Glyn Robbins, a national organiser, said: “We are going to keep protesting.”

Demonstrators made clear their protest was not aimed at Islington Council. Angela Keating (pictured on page 1), who has lived on three Islington estates, was one of those who slept out.

“I’m Islington through and through and don’t want to see it sold off to the highest bidder,” she told the Tribune. The 39-year-old said the bill was “complete madness” as it would mean people either quitting their jobs to stay under the earnings threshold or ending up homeless.

She added: “People want to stay in the homes and communities they live in.”

Other speakers said the bill was an attempt to socially cleanse landlords and force people into privately rented accommodation, boosting landlords’ profits.

Islington GMB branch secretary Vaughan West told the crowd: “What we need is a housing bill that addresses the crisis we are facing, not a housing bill that seeks to socially cleanse this wonderful city of London.”

Islington South MP Emily Thornberry called the bill an attack “at the heart of Islington”.

She added: “This is a mixed community – people from all over the world, from every type of background and income. We like that. It’s what keeps us warm.

“This bill affects Islington more than anywhere else, forcing the council to sell off high value flats and social housing.”

Mr Robbins, of Tower Hamlets, said Islington had been at the forefront nationally of opposition to the bill and called on people to mobilise friends across the country against it and lobby their MPs.

The following day many of those at the sleep-out joined the People’s Assembly march for health, homes, jobs and education in central London.