Homeless people should not be arrested just if they smell - minister
One of the increasingly rare Conservative MPs with a good opinion! Wokeness runs amok!
Sometimes one can tell a lot about the legitimacy of a policy by the ludicrousness of the headlines it generates. This one is in reference to legislation the Conservative government is trying to get through that had the galaxy-brained idea of fining any rough-sleeping people - who of course famously have an excess of wealth to spare - up to £2500 for causing a nuisance. Prison sentences also available. Nuisance is defined widely enough that being “excessively” smelly or simply looking a bit like you might intend to sleep rough would be eligible for punishment.
The existing legislation - which is naturally a law from exactly 200 years ago: the 1824 Vagrancy Act - already makes rough sleeping and begging a criminal offence. Thousands of people without homes have been arrested for such crimes as “vagrant being found in or upon enclosed premises” or “begging and wandering around” in recent years. And there’s a concern that these changes would lead to a even greater criminalisation in practice.
It’s a policy so stupid and cruel that even several of today’s Conservative party are likely to rebel if the government pushes this forward. Good on them, especially “rebels” who are trying to work across party lines to decriminalise rough sleeping entirely. We desperately need new legislation on the subject, but not this new law.
Homelessness is not a lifestyle choice, and we know how to solve it.