Claire Coutinho distances herself from Suella Braverman on homelessness

A cabinet colleague of Suella Braverman has distanced herself from the home secretary’s suggestion that rough sleeping is sometimes a “lifestyle choice”.

Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary, said she wouldn’t have used the phrase, in a sign of unease in government over Braverman’s tough rhetoric.

People sleeping rough on the streets often have addiction and relationship issues and the government should be aiming to deal with “the underlying root causes” of their problems, Coutinho argued.

“What’s really important is that we’re getting them that help, that we’re not entrenching them in a life on the streets,” she told Times Radio, in comments that struck a notably different tone to Braverman.

Over the weekend, the home secretary confirmed reports that she was pushing for powers to