On Wednesday 24 June, the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) is heading to Westminster to host a special parliamentary drop-in reception for UK MPs, supported by Martin Rhodes, MP for Glasgow North.
INSP is a UK charity that represents over 90 street paper organisations across 35 countries, including the UK’s The Big Issue. Street papers are at the forefront of services designed to combat the rise of homelessness and poverty. INSP and its member organisations aim to restore dignity to people experiencing homelessness by giving them an opportunity to gain income, and to have their stories heard.
The INSP Westminster event comes at a pressing time, with 14.2 million people in the UK living in poverty – over 20% of the population, including 31% of children. As rates of poverty rise across the UK and globally, INSP is running this event to spread awareness of these issues, and to raise the profile of the impact of the street paper movement globally.
Mike Findlay-Agnew, CEO of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), comments: “Our Westminster event provides a great opportunity for us to showcase the impact of the global street paper movement to decision-makers at Westminster. Many people are familiar with the Big Issue brand, but do not realise that similar newspapers and magazines exist worldwide, with a collective ambition of tackling homelessness and poverty.
“Each year, we estimate sellers of street papers earn around £10m globally, and there are roughly 10,000 vendors of street papers selling at any one time. INSP has its own independent newswire, which distributes around 500 news stories to our members each year, who republish these in their printed pages. With the rise in media avoidance and mistrust in news at an all-time high, our news content remains a trusted and relevant source of information for people on important social issues.
“I am grateful to Martin Rhodes MP and his team for hosting us at Westminster, and I look forward to a strong turnout of MPs at our event.”
The Westminster event also presents an opportunity for INSP to talk about the impact of its Changing the Narrative Journalism Training Academy, which launched in 2025 to provide skills training in journalism and storytelling, with the aim of creating new career pathways for people experiencing homelessness.
It also comes just over two months before the Global Street Paper Summit in Glasgow, which is the flagship event bringing street paper organisations to the UK in early September 2026.
