Deputy Leader of Reform UK, Ben Habib, has shared his support for Home Secretary Suella Braverman, after stating that people living on the streets is a "lifestyle choice".
Over the weekend, Braverman shared her thoughts on rough sleepers in the UK, sharing a statement on her stance on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Speaking to her 146,000 followers, Braverman responded to a claim that she is "pushing to restrict tents for rough sleepers".
Braverman said she will "always support those who are genuinely homeless" but added that the government "cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people".
Ben Habib said seeing tents on the streets of Britain is a 'sign of a failing society'
GB News
Braverman continued: "Many of them are from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice."
"Nobody in Britain should be living in a tent on our streets. There are options for people who don’t want to be sleeping rough, and the Government is working with local authorities to strengthen wraparound support including treatment for those with drug and alcohol addiction."
Speaking to Emily Carver on GB News Sunday, Habib revealed: "A senior Conservative Party member said to me the other day, one of the problems that Suella's got is she takes the path of most resistance, in the way that she in the way that she espouses her arguments.
"But in defence of Suella, I would say there are a lot of very difficult subjects which need to be tackled and she is."
Habib continued: "She's very short on action, the government's very short on action, but she is at least revealing the problems, and that's the first step towards solving the problems. And we don't want tents obviously on our streets."
"It's a sign of a failing society if we've got lots of people sleeping rough and in tents. What we need is these people becoming valuable participants in society."
"We need people getting back into work, having the skill sets that they need in order to get into work, Having the confidence to go back to work, making money out of work and banning tents is a regulatory, legal approach."
Habib then shared his thoughts on implementing "social reform" and how to fix the problem of rough sleepers in the UK.
Suella Braverman has said rough sleeping is a 'lifestyle choice'
PA
Habib said: "It's a sledgehammer. To solve the problem, what you need is social reform, taxation reform, education, to really get rid of the problem into the long term."
Commentator Paul Embery argued against Habib's comments, voicing his concerns for the proposal by the home secretary to restrict tents.
Embery said: "I'm uneasy about the proposal. I mean it is unsightly, some of our town centres, our high streets, it is unsightly to see some of these scenes.
"But what would be to stop Suella Braverman from saying okay this week it's tents, we're going to stop people having the the protection of tents against the elements, next week it's going to be coats or something. You know if you're a charity you can't ban a coat."
