Rough sleepers ‘should not be arrested just if they smell’, says UK minister

Gillian Keegan appears to join growing band of Tory MPs with misgivings about proposals in flagship crime bill

Rough sleepers should not be arrested if they smell, a cabinet minister has said, as she apparently joined a growing rebellion by Conservative MPs against plans to criminalise homelessness.

Police in England and Wales are to be given powers to fine or move on rough sleepers deemed to be causing a nuisance" under proposals that form part of the UK government's flagship crime bill.