Justice Secretary declines to repeat Suella Braverman’s claim that rough sleeping is ‘lifestyle choice’

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has declined to repeat Suella Braverman’s claim that rough sleeping is a “lifestyle choice”, saying he would take a “different approach”.

Mr Chalk was asked if he would reiterate her claim, and he said: “No I wouldn’t, I would take a different approach.”

It comes after Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said she would not use the same “language” as Ms Braverman, while Rishi Sunak declined to repeat the phrase when asked by reporters yesterday.

Politics latest: First King’s Speech in decades will lay out Sunak’s plans today

The home secretary has sparked a backlash after she claimed that living on the streets was for many a “lifestyle choice”.

Ms Braverman said many of those who sleep in tents are “from abroad” and insisted there was no need given the alternatives and support available to rough sleepers.

She also suggested the UK will follow the likes of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the US, where “weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor” if action is not taken.

The crackdown would reportedly target “nuisance” tents, such as those blocking shop doorways, and include charities that hand out camping equipment being fined.

Speaking to Sky’s Kay Burley, Mr Chalk said there was often a “very significant context” to rough sleeping, including mental health, addiction issues and job loss.

However, he said the “central point” Ms Braverman was making was about the use of tents.

“It is absolutely correct that we shouldn’t do anything that entrenches people’s rough sleeping, condemning and consigning people to poorer health outcomes,” he said.

Click to subscribe to Politics at Jack and Sam’s wherever you get your podcasts

“I’m afraid sometimes to be kind you have to be robust, you have to be really quite firm about it.

“I do think when we are talking about choices, it is important to understand the context of those choices.”

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, on 4 November, Ms Braverman said: “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.

“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.

“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.”

Labour’s shadow leader of the Commons Lucy Powell said it was “despicable” of Ms Braverman to describe homelessness as a lifestyle choice and that the government was seeking to divide people.

She told Sky News: “I think the comments of the home secretary are despicable, really.

“And they speak to what this government’s whole meaning now seems to be about, which is creating more division, where division isn’t needed, by trying to inflame and sort of false wedge political issues.”