DISSIDENT Tory MPs and homelessness campaigners united today to condemn government plans for a draconian new law against rough sleeping.

In a sordid squabble over how smelly is too smelly, ministers struggled to defend sections of the Criminal Justice Bill that would empower the police to fine homeless people who are a “nuisance.”

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan conceded that people “should not be arrested just if they smell,” admitting that she did not know what the Bill meant by “excessive” odour.