Rishi Sunak is likely to launch a crackdown on “nuisance” begging in a bid to announce a war against anti-social behaviour. The Prime Minister will reportedly disclose a series of new powers for police to move on beggars causing “public distress”.
The new policies might restrict beggars from blocking shop doorways and asking for money at cash points.
The new guidelines will allow police officers and local authority workers to confront beggars.
They can also order them to move on while encouraging them to make use of accommodation services and mental health support.
A new offense will be created for criminal gangs organising begging networks, something Whitehall officials believe is often used to facilitate illegal activities, reported The Telegraph.
The change in the policies is part of a wider crackdown on crime being announced by Mr Sunak on Monday.
It also includes a ban on laughing gas and a requirement for offenders to begin cleaning up graffiti within 48 hours.
The move comes weeks after the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer launched a number of policies aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour.
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The Georgian-era Vagrancy Act, which they will replace, criminalised all rough sleeping but meant that, in practice, there was little to no law enforcement.
Launching his new policies on Monday, Mr Sunak will say: “Anti-social behaviour undermines the basic right of people to feel safe in the place they call home.
“The public has rightly had enough, which is why I am determined to restore people’s confidence that those responsible will be quickly and visibly punished.
“This action plan maps out how we will tackle this issue with the urgency it deserves and stamp out these crimes once and for all so that, wherever you live, you can feel safe in and proud of your community.”
The Government’s annual rough sleeping statistics found an estimated 3,069 people to be on the streets on any given night in autumn last year, up by 26 percent on the previous year.
The figures, released last month by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, also showed that 99,270 households were staying in temporary accommodation at the end of September.
