Ed Miliband sought to intensify the pressure on the prime minister by contrasting his decision to defend bankers’ bonuses with the cutting back of housing benefit for disabled people. Photograph: PA
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people will lose an average of £700 a year under the government’s so called “bedroom tax”, Ed Miliband claimed at prime minister’s questions.
David Cameron, who tried to shift the terms of debate by saying the government was simply ending a “spare room subsidy” in social housing, rejected Miliband’s claims by saying that anyone in need of 24-hour care would be exempt.
The prime minister defended the change on the grounds that the government needs to reduce the £23bn housing benefit bill as it repairs the public finances in the wake of the financial crash, which, he said, occurred when Miliband was serving as the “croupier in the casino”.
Miliband sought to intensify the pressure on the prime minister by contrasting his decision to defend bankers’ bonuses during EU negotiations with the cutting-back of housing benefit for disabled people. The Labour leader said that hundreds of thousands of disabled people will lose an average of £700 a year as the government reduces housing benefit for most people in social housing who have spare bedrooms.
Miliband said that a £25m hardship fund for disabled people would not make up for the £306m that will be taken from them, and asked the PM: “Will he admit that the vast majority of disabled people who are hit by his bedroom tax will get no help from his hardship fund?”
Cameron said it was wrong to say that disabled people were worse off under his government because the amount spent on disability allowance will have increased from £12.4bn in 2009-10 to £13.3bn by 2015. The prime minister added: “He is completely wrong because anyone with severely disabled children is exempt from the spare room subsidy. Anyone who needs care round-the-clock is exempt from the spare room subsidy.”
The prime minister also rejected a claim by the Labour MP Derek Twigg that the bedroom tax was “callous”. Cameron said: “Pensioners are exempt, people with severely disabled children are exempt, people who need round-the-clock care are exempt. Those categories of people are all exempt.
“But there is a basic issue of fairness. How can it be fair that people on housing benefit in private rented accommodation do not get a spare room subsidy whereas people in social housing do? That isn’t fair and we are putting that right.”
Miliband opened his exchanges with the prime minister by highlighting the government’s decision to speak out against EU proposals to impose a cap on bankers’ bonuses.
The Labour leader said: “I would like to ask the prime minister about an individual case that has been raised with me. John works in east London and is worried about what is happening to his living standards. His salary is £1m and he is worried that under proposed EU regulations his bonus may be capped at just £2m. Can the prime minister tell us what he is going to do for John?”
Cameron replied: “What I would say to John and everyone like John is under this government bonuses are one quarter of what they were when he was in the Treasury. I will take lots of lectures from lots of people but I don’t have to listen to the croupier in the casino when it all went bust.”
This article titled “Bedroom tax ‘will make thousands of disabled people £700 worse off’” was written by Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 6th March 2013 14.57 Europe/London
