Eyes down - at least its not raining.
In 2022 the government repealed of the Vagrancy Act, which had criminalised rough sleeping and begging for almost 200 years.
The Westminster Government then inserted a clause on ‘Vagrancy and Begging’ in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that was currently going through Parliament.
This clause would allow them to ‘disregard the repeal of the Vagrancy Act’ and create new powers to make begging a criminal offence. The Government have said that this clause is just a ‘placeholder’ text, which will be replaced in a future version of the Bill, once they’ve decided what to do.
So we are still waiting to see what happens. Do we need to criminalise "being poor" ? There are plenty of existing laws to deal with drugs, violence,and anti social behaviour - and without police they make no difference.
Taunton, Somerset, UK.
Eyes down - at least its not raining.
In 2022 the government repealed of the Vagrancy Act, which had criminalised rough sleeping and begging for almost 200 years.
The Westminster Government then inserted a clause on ‘Vagrancy and Begging’ in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill that was currently going through Parliament.
This clause would allow them to ‘disregard the repeal of the Vagrancy Act’ and create new powers to make begging a criminal offence. The Government have said that this clause is just a ‘placeholder’ text, which will be replaced in a future version of the Bill, once they’ve decided what to do.
So we are still waiting to see what happens. Do we need to criminalise "being poor" ? There are plenty of existing laws to deal with drugs, violence,and anti social behaviour - and without police they make no difference.
Taunton, Somerset, UK.