Joe Lycett has reached his £50,000 fundraising target for a homelessness charity following controversial remarks from Home Secretary Suella Braverman about rough sleeping.
The comedian, 35, launched the campaign for Crisis UK after Ms Braverman claimed that rough sleeping is sometimes a “lifestyle choice” while suggesting she wants to place restrictions on the use of tents on public streets.
Responding to the comments on Instagram, addressing the Home Secretary as his “old friend”, Lycett said: “I always thought lifestyle choices were things such as cargo pants, fishing, and decorating your bathroom with a bowl of potpourri.”
Astonishingly we’ve raised just under £40,000 for @crisis_uk in less than 48 hours with a bowl of potpourri, aka a ‘lifestyle choice’. Thank you thank you thank you.
Would love to hit the £50k target ahead of the King’s Speech tomorrow. 🤞🏻🚀🤪🤯
NB: remember to add gift aid… https://t.co/cOoK7TKokQ— Joe Lycett (@joelycett) November 6, 2023
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Alongside an image of potpourri, Lycett announced his initiative to raise £50,000 for the homeless charity Crisis UK, which he surpassed on Tuesday morning.
On Instagram he wrote: “I woke up this morning to see that a picture of a bowl of potpourri I posted just over two days ago has raised £50,000 for Crisis. A huge thank you to everyone who donated for their generosity.
“Of course, my main thanks must go to Suella: without your lifestyle choice, of being callous and cruel towards the most vulnerable people in society, none of this would’ve happened.”
As part of his campaign, Lycett told followers on his Instagram story “when you donate make sure to click Gift Aid as it means that Suella’s government then have to give an additional 25% towards it”.
The Financial Times previously reported that Ms Braverman has proposed establishing a civil offence to deter charities from giving tents to homeless people.
Organisations could be fined for doing so if it is deemed to have caused a nuisance under the plans being pitched for inclusion in the King’s Speech, which will set out the UK Government’s legislative agenda on Tuesday.
The potential law would also seek to prevent the obstruction of shop doorways by rough sleepers who are using tents, the FT said.
The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless. But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice. 1/4 https://t.co/fT1Ou5kD5Q
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) November 4, 2023
Sharing a link to the article in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ms Braverman said: “The British people are compassionate. We will always support those who are genuinely homeless.
“But we cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice.
“Unless we step in now to stop this, British cities will go the way of places in the US like San Francisco and Los Angeles, where weak policies have led to an explosion of crime, drug taking, and squalor.”
Lycett’s campaign comes a month after he wrote a parody letter to Ms Braverman shared on X in the wake of her suggestion that it is unsustainable for the UK to offer asylum to gay people who face discrimination in their home countries.
