Council's plan to ban soup runs unlawful says Liberty

Plans by Westminster City Council to outlaw charity groups from distributing free food on the borough's streets would be unlawful, according to a legal opinion obtained by  human rights campaign group Liberty.

Citing a legal opinion from James Goudie QC of 11KBW, the campaign group has written to councillors at Westminster urging them to cancel their plans to introduce the bye-law. According to the legal opinion, Westminster’s plans are unlawful on a number of human rights and common law grounds on the grounds that the proposed bye-law is:

• ambiguous and fails to provide sufficient clarity as to the scope of the conduct which it criminalises;
• is over-broad and draconian, criminalising lawful and benign conduct which, on any view, is entirely unconnected with any legitimate aim which Westminster claims to pursue; and
• is (at best) only tenuously connected to the object pursued and, assessed objectively, is: (a) likely to be less effective in achieving Westminster’s stated aim than a number of other alternative measures, and (b) is more intrusive as regards fundamental rights than those alternatives.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said: "This disgusting proposal targets those least able to fend for themselves. Councillors would have to be devoid of common sense and decency to believe that criminalising people for feeding those in need will solve the problem of homelessness. Not so much the big society as a vindictive nanny state gone mad.

“Is it genuinely the case that a mother who gives her child milk while travelling home…is to be criminalised? That a diabetic cannot be given a piece of chocolate? Or that two students sharing a soft drink…should be subject to arrest and criminal fine?”

Instead of banning soup runs, the group urged the council to work with third sector organisations to find solutions “which will not further sideline those already at the margins of our society”.

The council says that charitable food distribution to homeless people in the borough is impeding its efforts to eradicate rough sleeping by enabling to homeless people to sleep on the streets rather than  seeking hostel accommodation.

The legal opinion can downloaded here: http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/campaigns/soup-run/soup-runs-in-westminster-liberty-jnt-opinion-27-05-11.pdf