The government has now softened the Criminal Justice Bill, which at first included measures to combat “nuisance begging,” in an effort to put an end to the growing revolt of roughly forty backbenchers.
The bill’s purported goal of stopping “nuisance begging,” which may have targeted persons sleeping in doorways, causing “excessive smells,” or “looking like they are intending to sleep on the streets,” was met with opposition from MPs.
Additionally, the previous version would have allowed police or municipal authorities to order people to move on by issuing “nuisance begging directions”; noncompliance might have resulted in a month in prison.
In contrast, the measure would explicitly state that police and local authorities must give priority to referring individuals who are sleeping on the streets to support services before they contemplate applying criminal consequences, in response to complaints raised by forty Conservatives from both the right and left of the party.
