UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman sparked a row, as she described living on the streets as a “lifestyle choice” adopted by some residents in Britain, particularly those coming from abroad.
“The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice,” the Indian-origin minister posted on social media platform X.
Braverman, in-charge of the interior ministry, has planned a crackdown on rough sleepers who occupy the streets with tents, saying that the government cannot allow the cities of the UK to meet the same fate as that of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both the American cities, inhabited by several homeless persons who live on street pavements, have high crime rates, she pointed out.
“Unless we step in now to stop this, British cities will 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,” she added.
Braverman’s remarks drew condemnation from the Opposition, while members of her party also distanced themselves away from it. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on being asked by reporters whether he would consider the remarks of his cabinet colleague as offensive, declined to repeat it.
“I don’t want anyone to sleep rough on our streets…That’s why the government is investing £2bn over the next few years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping,” The Guardian quoted the prime minister as saying.
Braverman, in her series of tweets, claimed that the government is working on a mechanism to help those dwelling on the streets due to alcohol and narcotic addictions.
“Nobody in Britain should be living in a tent on our streets. There are options for people who don’t want to be sleeping rough, and the government is working with local authorities to strengthen wraparound support including treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction,” she said.
“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,” the minister further added.
Braverman had stoked a controversy earlier this year, after she proposed to send asylum seekers in the UK to Rwanda.
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Updated: 07 Nov 2023, 12:01 AM IST