Suella Braverman has prompted outrage after she demanded a crackdown on tents used by the homeless and described rough sleeping as a “lifestyle choice”.
The home secretary claimed streets risked being “taken over” and that without action British cities would see “an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor”.
She added that many of those living in tents were “from abroad”. Those who were “genuinely homeless” would always be supported, she said.
But she was accused of “disgraceful”politics and blaming the most vulnerable for her government’s failings.
Ms Braverman is understood to be drawing up plans to deter charities from giving tents to rough sleepers through the introduction of a new civil offence, according to The Financial Times. This would means charities could be fined for giving tents to homeless people if they go on to cause a public nuisance under proposals being pitched to be included in the King’s Speech on Tuesday.
But she was hit with a raft of criticism over her remarks. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper accused her of picking “a fight over tents” after rough sleeping rose dramatically under the Conservative government, while ex-Tory MP Ben Howlett said the move would be “actually evil”. He added that “not a single MP with any shred of decency” could support such a policy.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael also said it was “grim politics from a desperate Conservative government which knows it’s day are numbered”.
And homelessness charity Shelter said: “Let’s make it clear: living on the streets is not a ‘lifestyle choice’ – it is a sign of failed government policy. No one should be punished for being homeless. Criminalising people for sleeping in tents, and making it an offence for charities to help them, is unacceptable.”
In her statement on the issue, written on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Braverman said that “nobody in Britain should be living in a tent” and that the government was working to help the homeless, including through treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction.
She added that she wanted to stop those who cause nuisance and distress to other people, as she tweeted a link to reports she is pushing to restrict the use of tents and even fine charities who hand them out.
The British Red Cross recently warned that since August they have seen a 140 per cent increase the people with refugee status becoming destitute. They said they were having to hand out sleeping bags and tents to people who are facing life on the streets.
Shelter estimated earlier this year that at least 271,000 people are recorded as homeless in England, including 123,000 children.
Labour frontbencher Lisa Nandy said: “Even by this government’s standards, this is disgraceful. Imagine looking at the housing and homelessness crisis you’ve presided over and thinking, let’s take away their tents.”
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner accused ministers of “blaming homeless people rather than themselves” for the housing crisis as she said rough sleeping is “not a ‘lifestyle choice’”. “The home secretary should start by taking responsibility for the desperate shortage of decent, secure and affordable housing after thirteen years of Tory failure,” she added.
Matt Downie, the chief executive of the charity Crisis, said new laws to crack down on the use of tents would do little to tackle rough sleeping but risked pushing people further into destitution.
“Ending rough sleeping is absolutely possible but it requires government to step up and make the changes needed that will actually achieve it, including investing in housing benefit so people can afford their rent. Stripping people of their only protection is not the answer,” he said.
The Conservative manifesto pledged to end rough sleeping before the bext election, which must take place by January 2025.But in September, the Governmeng was warned by the Kerslake Commission, a panel of 36 experts, that it was not on target to meet that goal.
Instead, figures published earlier this year show the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough in England had risen for the first time since 2017.
A snapshot of a single night in autumn last year found 3,069 people sleeping rough, up 626 (26 per cent) on the equivalent total for the previous year and nearly three-quarters (74 per cent higher than in 2010 when the figures began.
The Home Office said it would not comment on what might feature in the King’s Speech.
But officials pointed to the Antisocial Behaviour Action Plan announced in March, which included proposals to provide police and councils with fresh powers to “address rough sleeping and other street activity where it is causing a public nuisance”.
The plan said officers should be able to “clear the debris, tents and paraphernalia that can blight an area, while ensuring those genuinely homeless and with complex needs are directed to appropriate support”.
