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Suella Braverman is facing a backlash after controversial comments she made while promoting policies to crack down on rough sleeping.

The home secretary wants to restrict the use of tents by homeless people in UK towns and cities.

Here’s what Mrs Braverman said, what aspects of her comments have caused outrage – and some of the responses she received from fellow politicians.

What Ms Braverman said on X

The home secretary’s statement, which she shared on X on Saturday, read: “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.

“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.

“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.

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“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.”

What the home secretary told Sky News

Speaking exclusively to Sky News’ Ali Fortescue on Saturday, Mrs Braverman further explained her plans to stop homeless people sleeping in tents.

Ali Fortescue: “Let’s talk about reports that you’re planning on restricting homeless people from using tents. Why is that something you’re looking at?”

Suella Braverman: “Listen, the British people are a compassionate nation and of course we must do everything necessary to support those who are genuinely homeless.

“But at the same time, we must make sure we don’t go down the same route as some cities in the US, like San Francisco or Seattle where living in a tent has become a lifestyle choice, and with it has brought drug use, criminality and antisocial behaviour.”

Ali Fortescue: “You talk about a lifestyle choice… surely this is something people do out of desperation, not a lifestyle choice?

Suella Braverman: “As I said, we will help those who are genuinely homeless.

“It cannot be right that parts of our cities are ruined and blighted by the sight and use of tents.

“There is no need to use tents for accommodation in 21st century Britain. It brings criminality, it brings drug use, it brings in many instances violence to communities.”

The backlash

Lots of people with experiences of homelessness and rough sleeping shared their views on social media, pointing out that rather than lifestyle choice, they had suddenly found themselves without anywhere to live after falling behind on bills or losing their jobs.

Housing and homelessness charity, Shelter, released a statement in opposition to the home secretary’s comments.

It read: “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.

“The housing emergency boils down to people not being able to afford to live anywhere. The current scenario:

  • Private rents are at an all-time high
  • Evictions are rising
  • And the cost of living crisis continues

“This, combined with decades of government failure to build genuinely affordable social homes, is what is driving record levels of homelessness and leaving thousands of people on the streets.

“The government promised to end rough sleeping, but is falling short of the mark.”

The government’s energy secretary Claire Coutinho appeared to distance herself from Mrs Braverman’s comments, telling Kay Burley this morning she “wouldn’t necessarily use the language of ‘lifestyle choice’ because the reasons for homelessness are “complex and varied”.

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Energy secretary Claire Coutinho comments on Suella Braverman’s description of rough sleeping

Ms Coutinho said Mrs Braverman had in her comments “distinguished that a lot of people who end up in that position are struggling, for example, with addiction issues”.

“And she wasn’t talking about those people,” she added.

“I think the most important thing is that for all of those people, what we want is for them to have a warm home, a roof over their heads.

“Because ultimately sleeping on the streets, becoming entrenched in that lifestyle, that’s no life for anyone.”

Pressed on whether Mrs Braverman “misspoke”, the energy secretary replied: “So I think she was talking about different things.

“She acknowledged that there are people who just, you know, they need our compassion. They’re struggling with things like addiction. They need help and support. And that’s exactly what the plans are, by the way.

“But she also talked about people, I think, who are nuisance begging who are working in organised groups.

“And I think it’s right that we make sure that we’re getting people off the streets into safe accommodation and also making sure that our neighbourhoods feel safe for people as well.”

Responding to the home secretary’s initial tweets, Labour MP Jess Phillips said: “My brother was a rough sleeper, unlike Suella Braverman he has dedicated his life in gratitude to the fact he still has it to the service and help of others.

“He’d be a better home secretary than her but then again a cardboard box would be a better home secretary than her.”

Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: “This is grim politics from a desperate Conservative government which knows its day are numbered.

“It is a new low for Braverman to criminalise homeless charities for simply trying to keep vulnerable people warm and dry in winter.

“The British public raise millions of pounds for homeless people at this time of year, and the government’s response is to criminalise those charities trying to help.

“This policy will do nothing to stop rough sleeping and will leave vulnerable people to face the harsh weather conditions without any shelter whatsoever.”

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Planning reforms to ‘rewire the system’ and get Britain building – all while protecting wildlife

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Planning reforms to 'rewire the system' and get Britain building - all while protecting wildlife

Major developers will only deal with one regulator under planning reforms which ministers say will “rewire the system” to get Britain building – all while protecting the environment. 

A review by former Labour adviser Dan Corry into Britain’s sluggish system of green regulation has concluded that existing environmental regulators should remain in place, while rejecting a “bonfire of regulations”.

But Mr Corry suggested there might be circumstances in which the government look at changing the wildlife and habit rules inherited from the EU, which protect individual species.

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These lie at the centre of the controversy of a £120m bat tunnel – the shed in Aylesbury which protects a rare breed from future high speed trains.

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The government has now explicitly ruled out any such change in this parliament.

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Campaigners have questioned whether the changes go far enough and will make a major difference to the rate and scale of building in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, Environment Secretary Steve Reed insisted that accepting nine of the recommendations from the Corry review would amount to wholesale reform.

The minister said: “We can get a win-win for economic growth and for nature. And that is why we are moving ahead with proposals such as appointing a lead regulator for major developments so that the developers don’t have to navigate the architecture of multiple regulators.

“They just work for a single regulator who manages all the others on their behalf. Simplifying the online planning portal.

“These are huge changes that will save developers billions of pounds and speed up decisions doing damage to the environment.”

Mr Reed insisted that there would be “no more bat tunnels” built, even though the Corry review suggests that more work needs to be done to look again at the relevant guidance.

It says: “Rapidly reviewing the existing catalogue of compliance guidance, including on protecting bats, will identify opportunities to remove duplication, ambiguity or inconsistency.

“Natural England has already agreed to review and update their advice to Local Planning Authorities on bats to ensure there is clear, proportionate and accessible advice available.”

The review will mean:

• Appointing one lead regulator for every major infrastructure project, like Heathrow expansion

• A review on how nature rules are implemented – but not the rules themselves

• Insisting regulators focus more on government priorities, particularly growth

Economist and former charity leader Mr Corry, who led the review, said it shows that “simply scrapping regulations isn’t the answer”.

“Instead we need modern, streamlined regulation that is easier for everyone to use. While short-term trade-offs may be needed, these reforms will ultimately deliver a win-win for both nature and economic growth in the longer run.”

However, Sam Richards from Britain Remade, a thinktank trying to get Britain growing, said that while the steps are welcome, the number of regulators that report to the environment department would remain the same before and after the review. He questioned whether this would have the impact ministers claimed.

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Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

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Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

Kentucky’s finance watchdog has dismissed its lawsuit against Coinbase over the exchange’s staking rewards program, following its peers in Vermont and South Carolina.

Kentucky’s Department of Financial Institutions filed the stipulation to dismiss jointly with Coinbase on April 1, ending the state’s legal action against the exchange first filed along with 10 other state regulators in June 2023.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal posted to X on April 1, calling for Congress “to end this litigation-driven, state-by-state approach with a federal market structure law.”

Kentucky joins Vermont and South Carolina in dropping Coinbase staking suit

Source: Paul Grewal

Financial regulators from 10 states launched similar suits against Coinbase in June 2023, on the same day the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the exchange — a lawsuit the SEC dropped last month.

Seven suits against Coinbase still active

Alabama, California, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Washington and Wisconsin are the seven states that are still continuing with their lawsuits, which all allege Coinbase breached securities laws with its staking rewards program.

Vermont was the first state to end its suit against Coinbase, with its Department of Financial Regulation filing an order to rescind the action on March 13, noting the SEC’s Feb. 27 decision to drop its action against the exchange and the likelihood of changes in the federal regulator’s guidance.

The South Carolina Attorney General’s securities division followed Vermont days later, dismissing its lawsuit in a joint stipulation with Coinbase on March 27.

Related: South Carolina dismisses its staking lawsuit against Coinbase, joining Vermont

Kentucky’s decision to drop its case against Coinbase follows just days after the state’s governor, Andy Beshear, signed a “Bitcoin Rights” bill into law on March 24 that establishes protections for crypto self-custody and exempts crypto mining from money transmitting and securities laws.

The axed state-level lawsuits come amid a stark policy change at the SEC, which has dropped or delayed multiple lawsuits against crypto companies that it filed under the Biden administration.

The federal securities watchdog has also created a Crypto Task Force that is engaging with the industry on how it should approach cryptocurrencies.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

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Sir Keir Starmer says US-UK trade talks ‘well advanced’ and rejects ‘knee-jerk’ response to Donald Trump tariffs

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Sir Keir Starmer says US-UK trade talks 'well advanced' and rejects 'knee-jerk' response to Donald Trump tariffs

Sir Keir Starmer has said US-UK trade talks are “well advanced” ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed by Donald Trump on the UK this week – but rejected a “knee-jerk” response.

Speaking to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, the prime minister said the UK is “working hard on an economic deal” with the US and said “rapid progress” has been made on it ahead of tariffs expected to be imposed on Wednesday.

But, he admitted: “Look, the likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that, nobody wants a trade war.

“But I have to act in the national interest and that means all options have to remain on the table.”

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Sir Keir added: “We are discussing economic deals. We’re well advanced.

“These would normally take months or years, and in a matter of weeks, we’ve got well advanced in those discussions, so I think that a calm approach, a collected approach, not a knee-jerk approach, is what’s needed in the best interests of our country.”

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Keir Starmer

Downing Street said on Monday the UK is expecting to be hit by new US tariffs on Wednesday – branded “liberation day” by the US president – as a deal to exempt British goods would not be reached in time.

A 25% levy on car and car parts had already been announced but the new tariffs are expected to cover all exports to the US.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business and trade secretary, earlier told Sky News he is “hopeful” the tariffs can be reversed soon.

But he warned: “The longer we don’t have a potential resolution, the more we will have to consider our own position in relation to [tariffs], precluding retaliatory tariffs.”

He added the government was taking a “calm-headed” approach in the hope a deal can be agreed but said it is only “reasonable” retaliatory tariffs are an option, echoing Sir Keir’s sentiments over the weekend.

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Starmer and Trump discuss US-UK ‘prosperity’ deal

Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. Pic: Reuters

Tariff announcement on Wednesday

Mr Trump has been threatening tariffs – import taxes – on countries with the biggest trade imbalances with the US.

However, over the weekend, he suggested the tariffs would hit all countries, but did not name them or reveal which industries would be targeted.

Read more: How Trump’s tariffs could affect the UK

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‘Everything on table over US tariffs’

Mr Trump will unveil his tariff plan on Wednesday afternoon at the first Rose Garden news conference of his second term, the White House press secretary said.

“Wednesday, it will be Liberation Day in America, as President Trump has so proudly dubbed it,” Karoline Leavitt said.

“The president will be announcing a tariff plan that will roll back the unfair trade practices that have been ripping off our country for decades. He’s doing this in the best interest of the American worker.”

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Trump’s tariffs: What can we expect?

Tariffs would cut UK economy by 1%

UK government forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said a 20 percentage point increase in tariffs on UK goods and services would cut the size of the British economy by 1% and force tax rises this autumn.

Global markets remained flat or down on Monday in anticipation of the tariffs, with the FTSE 100 stock exchange trading about 1.3% lower on Monday, closing with a 0.9% loss.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.6% after a volatile day which saw it down as much as 1.7% in the morning.

However, the FTSE 100 is expected to open about 0.4% higher on Tuesday, while Asian markets also steadied, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 broadly unchanged after a 4% slump yesterday.

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