Home Secretary Suella Braverman has proposed restricting rough sleepers using tents and finning the charities that provide them.

Braverman said she believed many of them see it as “a lifestyle choice” and that the state would always support those who are genuinely homeless.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Braverman said: “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.”

She deemed the proposed government intervention as necessary action to prevent British cities ending up like Los Angeles and San Francisco where she says “weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor”.

The proposals would target tents that cause a nuisance in public spaces and would create a civil offence seeing charities run the risk of fines for dispensing tents if they were deemed to have caused a nuisance.

The move has seen stern resistance from politicians and charities alike.

Homelessness charity Shelter responded by writing on X: “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.”