Rough sleeping could be fully decriminalised after 200 years under proposals from rebel Conservative MPs to repeal legislation dating from the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars.
A group of Tories working with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs want to strip out proposed and existing legislation that criminalises homelessness.
The revolt is focused on government plans to introduce harsher policing of rough sleepers in its crime bill. Under proposals announced by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, police in England and Wales are to be given powers to fine or move on rough sleepers deemed to be causing a “nuisance”.
The move has infuriated MPs across the Conservative party. Several dozen are supporting proposals by Bob Blackman, the Tory MP coordinating the rebellion, to remove parts of the bill that criminalise rough sleeping and repeal the 200-year-old Vagrancy Act. The combined effect of these proposals, if passed, would be to fully decriminalise rough sleeping.
The government has committed to repealing the Vagrancy Act 1824, which was introduced to target wounded soldiers who began begging on the streets after returning from the Napoleonic wars homeless and destitute. However, ministers have yet to announce a date for the act to be repealed and campaigners say that in its current form the criminal justice bill would go even further.
Almost 4,000 people have been arrested under vagrancy laws in the five years to 2023, according to data collated by the local government expert Jack Shaw.
Blackman said aspects of the proposed bill, under which rough sleepers could be moved on, fined up to £2,500 or imprisoned, were “outrageous” and “worse than the Vagrancy Act”.
“The police should assist people who are homeless to find somewhere that they can stay safely rather than arrest them and put them in a prison cell,” he said. “What we’ve got to make sure of is that we consign the Vagrancy Act to the history book, not the statute book, and ensure that people are assisted to find somewhere to live.”
Nickie Aiken, the Tory MP for Cities of London and Westminster and a longstanding campaigner against the Vagrancy Act, said: “I’ve been working with Bob Blackman on the amendment as it’s ridiculous to think we should criminalise rough sleepers. How are they going to pay their £2,500 fine? They need proper services addressing the reasons why they are on the street, not a criminal record.”
Matt Downie, the chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, said: “If these amendments pass – and they appear to have cross-party support from huge numbers of people – they would have the effect of finally moving on from 200 years of punitive and cruel interventions that stop people accessing the help they need and punish them for their circumstances.”
On Monday, Kevin Hollinrake, a business minister, refused to say whether he supported the plans. “I believe that those things are not within my auspices,” he told Times Radio. “I’ll be interested to see the legislation as it goes through. And what the prime minister has planned.”
The Times, which first reported the story, said about 40 MPs had made it known to government whips that they would vote against the proposals to criminalise rough sleepers. The former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and Damian Green, the One Nation caucus chair, are among those who have joined the rebellion.
Critics say the legislation is so broadly drawn that someone could be considered a nuisance for sleeping in a doorway, being deemed to have an excessive smell or looking as though they intend to sleep rough. Ministers are in talks with the rebels over a possible compromise before the bill returns to the Commons after the Easter recess.
Alex Norris, the shadow policing minister, said: “With soaring serious violence, plummeting charging rates and rock bottom levels of confidence in policing, the criminal justice bill was a chance to address crucial community safety issues. Instead the government have chosen to go after homeless people or indeed anyone who smells. These are the twisted priorities of a government out of time.”
The Lib Dem MP Layla Moran said: “The heartless proposals in the criminal justice bill risk bringing back the Vagrancy Act by the backdoor. The government should listen to their own backbenchers and take a compassionate approach to tackling homelessness, instead of stigmatising and criminalising rough sleepers.”
