It’s a cold morning outside Westminster station in London and Gabor Kasza, 22, who is homeless and on the streets, is feeling shaken up and sad. Two nights ago he found the body of his close friend Gyula Remes, who had turned blue after choking on his own vomit. All this happened just outside the Houses of Parliament.

The Labour MP David Lammy tweeted: “There is something rotten in Westminster when MPs walk past dying homeless people on their way to work.”

Kasza says: “This death could have been prevented if he’d been helped to get into a night shelter. He was turned away because he was told that the shelter is full up and there’s no space.

Homeless deaths rise by a quarter in five years, official figures show Read more

“The sad thing is he had just got a job working as a chef’s assistant. He was so happy and said: ‘I can get a lot of food.’ He was a kind man, everyone in the homeless community who knew him liked him so much. He gave me a can of Coke recently and would give me soup and chocolate, anything sweet because he didn’t like sugary things.”

It’s not just Kasza who is mourning his friend. Downstairs in the station is a shrine with Remes’s picture, flowers and a can of his favourite beer. “He loved Stella. That was his beer,” Kasza says.

A homeless woman, Jamie Lee, has been playing the radio loudly because she says Remes used to snore and she wanted to wake him up with music.

Remes, a 43-year-old Hungarian national, died after, Kasza says, he smoked two cigarettes that had the synthetic cannabinoid spice in them. He was the second person in a year to die near the entrance of parliament.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Floral tributes near Westminster tube station. Photograph: Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe/PA

Data released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics shows nearly 600 homeless people were found dead on the streets or in temporary accommodation in England and Wales in 2017. They are the first official government figures and show a 24% increase in deaths over five years.

Deaths have risen every year since 2014, increasing from 482 to 597 last year, according to the figures. The average age of a rough sleeper at death was 44 among men and 42 for women. Eighty-four percent of the homeless people who died were men. London and the north-west had the highest mortality of homeless people in England and Wales.

More than half of the deaths in 2017 were caused by drug poisoning, suicide and alcohol abuse. No figures were calculated for 2018.

British Transport Police were called to the entrance used by MPs near Westminster tube station at 11.30pm on Tuesday. First aid was administered and Remes was taken to hospital, where he died hours later.

Kasza says he tried to give CPR, as did tube workers, but it was too late.

Tim, 60, who usually sleeps around Westminster as it is safer, says drugs, rather than the cold, are a big cause of deaths among rough sleepers. He says politicians need to address this problem if they are going to save lives.

“There are people who are vulnerable in the cold. Last night a homeless man turned up who was very old and weak. I had to call an ambulance for him, there could have been another death,” he says.

“The biggest problem is drink and drugs, as well as mental health problems. People like me wrap up in this weather.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gabor Kasza: ‘If you are eastern European, people don’t help you.’ Photograph: Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe/PA

Kasza thinks homeless people need more shelters and support. After the death of Remes, he says, the Labour MP Ed Miliband came by and asked for his email address to offer help.

“This is getting attention now because of where the death is, but people die all over the country. The government say they want to help but they don’t … There are more homeless in London than shelters or hostels. We also need more help to find jobs. If you are eastern European, people don’t help you, they just want to get you out.”

He adds: “Most people on the streets want to get off the streets. What happened has been a wake-up call. We need more outreach. Homeless people are still human and politicians come and just walk past you. They don’t even know if you’re dead or alive.”

• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.