Angela Rayner has brutally slammed Suella Braverman as she vows to decriminalise homelessness by tearing up the 200 year old Vagrancy Act.
The deputy PM attacked Braverman for calling homelessness a “lifestyle choice” while serving as home secretary in 2023, instead of repealing the outdated law that can lead to a fine of £1,000 for sleeping rough on Britain’s streets.
The government has confirmed that the Vagrancy Act, introduced in 1824 to punish “idle and disorderly persons, and rogues and vagabonds, in England,” will be repealed by spring next year.
Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, said Labour is “drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society” after decades long calls from leading charities to stop the “shameful” law.
“I’ll never forget the anger I felt when Suella Braverman claimed rough sleeping was ‘a lifestyle choice’,” she wrote in the Daily Mirror.
“As if the danger and hardship of living on the streets was some kind of holiday option – when most rough sleepers have no choice at all. The fact she was Home Secretary when she said those words back 2023 made it even more shocking.
“Just a year before, Parliament had voted to repeal the Vagrancy Act a shameful 200-year-old law that criminalises rough sleeping. But her Tory government failed to go through with scrapping it fully.”
Rayner added: “Three years on, this Labour government will finally finish the job by scrubbing the Vagrancy Act from the statute books once and for all. We are drawing a line under nearly two centuries of injustice towards some of the most vulnerable in society – people who deserve dignity and support.
“No one should ever be criminalised simply for sleeping rough and by ending this archaic law, we are making sure it can never happen again. Of course, this does not mean that the job is done.
“It sends a clear message that rough sleeping is not a crime to be punished. But to get back on track to ending homelessness for good we must tackle its root causes.”
London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham have both warned about the increasingly problematic issue of homelessness in their cities, respectively, saying the situation will get worse before it gets better.
Figures published early this year showed the number of people classed as living on the streets in London had risen by more than a third (38 per cent) year-on-year to 706 from 511.
According to the Combined Homelessness and Information Network, the total number recorded as sleeping rough in England’s capital was 4,427 for the three months to March 2025, representing a nearly 8 per cent increase from 4,118 for the same quarter last year.
Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali said: “Today marks a historic shift in how we’re responding to the rough sleeping crisis, by repealing an archaic Act that is neither just nor fit for purpose.
“Scrapping the Vagrancy Act for good is another step forward in our mission to tackle homelessness in all its forms, by focusing our efforts on its root causes.”
Chief executive of Crisis Matt Downie said: “This is a landmark moment that will change lives and prevent thousands of people from being pushed into the shadows, away from safety.
“For 200 years the Vagrancy Act has meant that people who are homeless are treated as criminals and second class citizens. It has punished people for trying to stay safe and done nothing to address why people become homeless in the first place.
“Ending the use of the Vagrancy Act recognises a shameful history of persecuting people for poverty and destitution, something that figures like William Wilberforce and Winston Churchill warned against in their opposition to the Act.”