Would You like a feature Interview?
All Interviews are 100% FREE of Charge
Tory rebels are plotting to kill the government’s flagship new crime bill amid fears it would effectively criminalize homelessness.
Under proposals announced by former home secretary Suella Braverman, police in England and Wales would be given the power to fine or even jail rough sleepers deemed to cause a “nuisance”. It will be done.
The move has infuriated dozens of Conservative MPs, who warned that the definition of “nuisance” was too broad and could “punish people simply for being homeless”. There is.
The proposal would count people sleeping in doorways as “nuisances,” as well as people who emit “excessive odors” or who appear to be trying to sleep rough. It’s planned. Anyone found to have breached the rules could be transferred, fined up to £2,500 or jailed under the proposed legislation.
More than 40 Conservative MPs have reportedly told the government they will vote against the bill. Times. They are understood to support a proposal by Bob Blackmun, Conservative MP and co-secretary of the 1922 Conservative Backbenchers Committee, to remove the part of the bill criminalizing rough sleeping. has been done.
Mr Blackmun also called on the government to repeal the current Vagrancy Act, a 200-year-old law aimed at wounded soldiers who began begging on the streets after returning from the Napoleonic Wars.
The government has pledged to repeal the law, but has not yet announced a date, and critics say the new crime bill will go further.
One Conservative MP and former minister said: I Rishi Sunak’s decision to press ahead with the proposal despite Braverman’s resignation last November is a “very strange idea” and could see the Prime Minister face a significant revolt. .
“Homelessness is a very complex issue and homeless people don’t necessarily become homeless by chance. Addiction issues and mental health issues also play a role. But if a homeless person is fined £2,500 “The idea that it could be imposed is patently absurd,” they said.
“We have to find ways to help people, but criminalizing them is probably not the way forward. Solutions are difficult, but…carrots are better than sticks. ”
Another Conservative MP said: I He said the party was “following completely the wrong strategy” on homelessness, adding that Mr Sunak showed he was a “grossly unfit leader for this challenge”.
Ministers are believed to be consulting with Tory rebels about concerns about the bill, with the list including heavyweights such as former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former deputy prime minister Damien Green. It is.
The bill is seen as a key part of the Conservative Party’s strategy to take a tough-on-crime stance ahead of the next general election, expected later this year, and the bill is a blow to Mr Sunak. It will be.
Commerce Minister Kevin Hollinrake declined to say whether he supported the plan in response to questions Monday.
he said times radio: “I believe those matters are outside of my jurisdiction.
“I’m interested in how the bill passes. And what the Prime Minister is planning.”
Shadow Police Minister Alex Norris said: “With soaring rates of serious violence, plummeting prosecution rates and rock-bottom confidence in police, the Criminal Justice Bill is an opportunity to tackle important issues of community safety. ” he said.
“Instead, the government has chosen to go after homeless people, or anyone who can smell it. These are the distorted priorities of a timeless government.”