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A barmy Brexit Party candidate claims he has come up with a solution to homelessness – by dumping people in wheelie bins.

Multi-millionaire entrepreneur Peter Dawe has created a 'sleep pod' out of two wheelie bins which he believes is the answer to keeping rough sleepers dry at night.

He has now showcased his design on a video where he starts by laying a lid down as a "pillow" before clambering in one half and lifting the second over his head so he is fully enclosed.

The two bins are bolted together and can be modified with small sawed squares to create air holes - at a total cost of just £100.

But his idea is struggling to take off with local homeless charities already trying to distance themselves from it.

It is the latest wacky creation from Dawe, 65, of Ely, Cambridegshire, who previously made his fortune as a tech tycoon.

(Image: Cambridge News)

He recently turned a 1,500 acre farm in Norfolk into a "self-sustainable" community for like-minded "survivalists".

And he said he was hopeful his latest idea would gain some traction.

Dawe, who stood as a Brexit Party candidate in the general election, said: "My hope is that, if it works and homeless people like them, it will go global and people will be using these as sleep pods around the world.

"It is a Marmite design. Some people think it's absolute genius, some people are actually horrified. 'Oh you can't put homeless people in rubbish bins', they say. My argument is I'm not putting homeless people in there, they are choosing it.

"All I'm doing is mitigating the rough sleeping environment into something a bit more comfortable and secure."

The businessman said he first hit on the idea of using the bins as a place to sleep when he built a prototype of a single person car, also made from a bin.

He added: "I was messing around with them and got in and found it was dry and warm.

"Secondly, it is unbelievably easy to make - it is two wheelie bins with four saw cuts and couple of bolts.

"It was just one of those bright spark ideas - I thought this might work. So I put one together and got in it and thought 'yeah this does work'. Now all we have got to do is figure out whether rough sleepers think it is a good idea."