Rough sleeping has been reduced before and it can be again – but not by gimmicks about tents

Editorial: The home secretary’s insult about ‘lifestyle choice’ is no substitute for the hard work of helping people off the streets

No one wants to see people sleeping rough on our streets (PA)

Suella Braverman is the first self-contradicting home secretary. As soon as she intervenes in a policy area, we know that nothing will happen. When she says that the law will be changed to require her to remove asylum seekers who arrive by small boat before they can claim asylum, we know that the law will not be so changed.

When she pushes for measures in the King’s Speech to make it unlawful for charities to give rough sleepers tents, we can be reasonably confident that no such measure will be included in the government’s legislative programme on Tuesday.

She is engaged in gesture politics. No one wants to see people sleeping rough on our streets, whether in tents or not, but while most of the public recognise that this is a complex problem requiring compassion, determination and resources, there is a minority who will cheer on a politician offering simple and punitive so-called solutions. Unfortunately, that minority is overrepresented among the membership of the Conservative Party, and Ms Braverman is already fighting the next Tory leadership election.