McVey says 3-bed houses should be turned into 1-bed homes to beat shortage

The Sunday People, which has campaigned against the tax, decided to show ex-TV star Ms McVey what HER three-bed gaff would look like if it was ­reduced to a one-bedroom property

Tax boss: Esther McVey's suggestion shocked MPs

New Bedroom Tax minister Esther McVey stunned MPs by calling for three-bed houses to be turned into one-bed homes in a new twist to the hated scheme.

She made the astonishing gaffe in replies to Commons questions about a cock-up by Lord Freud, who is Bedroom Tax ­minister in the House of Lords.

The Sunday People, which has campaigned against the tax, decided to show ex-TV star Ms McVey what HER three-bed gaff would look like if it was ­reduced to a one-bedroom property.

Our mocked-up photos show a wrecking ball bashing her constituency home. And, hey presto, the upstairs with its two bedroom windows has vanished – leaving a bungalow.

Crash: Our mock-up shows a wrecking ball converting Tory MP McVey's home

Job done: It is reduced to a one-bed property in line with her crackpot idea

 
Former GMTV presenter Ms McVey, 45, made her shocking remarks after we revealed last week that Lord Freud had admitted to peers there were not enough one-bed properties available for tenants hit by the Bedroom Tax.

Labour’s Huw Irranca-Davies then told the Commons that housing associations had “a desperate scarcity of one and two-bedroomed properties to rent” in his Ogmore constituency in South Wales.

He added: “Yet they have three-­bedroom properties lying empty.”

Ms McVey, the MP for Wirral West on Merseyside, replied: “We have to get the stock right. The fact there are three-bedroom houses and why in the last three years they have not been modified into one and two-bedroom houses.

“Those questions have to be asked. That is what we have to do – get the stock right and support people as best we can.”

She was only a week into her new brief to cover Bedroom Tax, handed to her by PM David Cameron in his ministerial reshuffle.

Shadow Welfare Reform minister Chris Bryant immediately fired off a letter ­demanding clarification.

He asked Ms McVey: “Are you suggesting that ­thousands of people affected by your Bedroom Tax in three-bedroom ­properties should be getting out their sledgehammers and knocking down walls in order to avoid paying?”

He also asked whether she wanted local authorities and housing associations in crisis to convert their existing three-bedroom housing stock into two-bed homes and two-bed homes into one.

Unfair

He added: “How many properties does the Government expect to be converted by the next general election?”

Stuart Ropke, of the National Housing Federation, said: “The fact three-bedroom homes are standing empty in some parts of the country while thousands of families elsewhere can’t downsize shows how
unworkable the Bedroom Tax is.

“Esther McVey’s call to convert three-bedroom houses into one or two-bedrooms has not been thought through.

Housing associations are already using their properties creatively, including remodelling where appropriate. But many houses can’t be neatly split down the middle to create two smaller properties.

“Even if they can, this takes time and, more importantly, money.”

Labour MP Sheila Gilmore wondered how toilets would be provided in a three-bed house split into two.

She said: “Maybe one of those temporary chemical toilets could be placed at the back door?

“Didn’t we do away with outside toilets years ago? Perhaps not on Planet Esther.”

Mr Bryant added: “First Lord Freud admitted there weren’t enough smaller properties for people hit by the unfair levy.

“Now Esther McVey suggests thousands of disabled people hit by the tax should convert their house into a smaller property.

“There is now a real risk that this policy will cost more money than it saves.”

Earlier, shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith defended Lord Freud, blaming local authorities for not building enough smaller homes to meet demand for them.

But demand for one-bedroom homes is only outstripping supply because of the Bedroom Tax. Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman said 96 per cent of tenants hit by the tax could not find smaller homes.

Dilemmas

Deputy PM Nick Clegg promised a review. He said: “I accept that, for some households, the change from one ­system to another creates dilemmas that need to be addressed through money we’re making available to local authorities.

Lots of wildly different figures have been cited about the policy’s impact. We are commissioning independent research.”

The Bedroom Tax affects 660,000 social housing tenants, who are charged an average £14 a week for one extra ­bedroom and £25 a week for two.

Last week a new study showed that Bedroom Tax savings had been exaggerated by the Government.

It had been projected that the tax would save £480million from the annual housing benefit bill.

But York University researchers say that is likely to be a £160million overestimate.

** Ms McVey says the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants fell in every local authority for the first time since 1997. Total claims fell by 40,000.

nigel.nelson@people.co.uk

It's just unworkable

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves said: “David Cameron’s unfair and unworkable Bedroom Tax is unravelling by the day.

“Ministers seem to be in a muddle about how this policy is supposed to work and what its impact will be.

“That’s why we have written to Esther McVey demanding clarification of her comments on property conversions.”

Mirror