PM’s anti-social behaviour clampdown to include targeting nuisance begging

Extra powers will be given to police and councils to help direct those begging at cash points and shop fronts to health and social services.

Nuisance beggars will be targeted as part of the Prime Minister’s anti-social behaviour crackdown (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

Beggars causing a “nuisance” on Britain’s streets will be targeted as part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s proposals to crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Police and local authorities will be given fresh powers to address people deemed to be imitating or causing the public distress, according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Law enforcement officers and council workers will be given the “tools” to direct people judged to be causing a “nuisance on the street”, including by obstructing shop doorways or begging at cash machines, to health and social services.