Interior minister Suella Braverman said that the UK does not condone the use of tents by homeless people as ‘a lifestyle choice’.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Braverman, who is seen as a possible future leader of the governing Conservative Party, said the state would always support those who are genuinely homeless. Braverman argued that unless the government acted, British cities would “go the way of places in the US like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor.”
“What I want to stop, and what the law-abiding majority wants us to stop, is those who cause nuisance and distress to other people by pitching tents in public spaces, aggressively begging, stealing, taking drugs, littering, and blighting our communities,” Braverman added.