Rough sleepers in Manchester will now be fined between £100-£1,000 if they are found "aggressively begging" or sleeping rough on Manchester's streets.

The ban will also enforce will a ban on erecting tents and fine people who refuse to move out of doorways or stairwells.

The fines come as part of Labour's new "public space protection order" for 2010, which Liberal Democrat MPs have described as "social cleansing".

We should be doing more to help the homeless, not penalise them with fines of £100 to £1000 https://t.co/hrxmYVcTPP — Prof Imran Awan (@ProfImranAwan) February 13, 2019

John Leech, Manchester MP for the Liberal Democrats has strongly opposed the plan, stating: "Whilst this city experiences the worst homeless crisis in decades, rather than tackling the causes, Labour in Manchester is investing in fines, court orders and inane policies that are so broad and lacking in detail that it can only be seen as an attempt to clean up the streets.

"If this isn't social cleansing then I've got no idea what is and I want to make it absolutely crystal clear; Liberal Democrat councillors will oppose this until the end of time."

People on Twitter have described the policy as "inhuman", saying "we should be helping people, not punishing them for their poverty".

(Cont) Treating rough sleepers as criminals is bad enough, but to fine them £100 is inhuman. They have nowhere else to go! We should be helping people, not punishing them for their poverty. I hope whoever put this in place is never in the same position.https://t.co/MzXTdNeByo — Bea Evans-Braddow (@BeaForSkegby) February 13, 2019

Mayor for Greater Manchester, MP Andy Burnham, pledged to end rough sleeping in the region by 2020.

So far, Manchester has one of the worst rates of homelessness in the UK, with an 24 per cent increase in people sleeping rough since June 2016 (Shelter).