MPs call on govt to scrap ‘cruel burden’ of bedroom tax

In an interim report published yesterday, the Scottish affairs committee said the housing benefit reduction was ‘little more than a cut in public expenditure, designed to hit the poorest’.

The committee also urged the government to suspend the application of the bedroom tax for all tenants for whom ‘reasonable’ offers of alternative accommodation could not be found.

MPs described discretionary housing payment, where councils make the decision of which tenants to support with their rent costs, as a ‘postcode lottery’ and said there should be a standard nationwide entitlement system.

Ian Davidson, the committee chair, said: ‘This is an interim report because, while the impact of the bedroom tax cannot yet be fully quantified, it is already clear that it is a cruel burden being placed upon the shoulders of those least able to bear it.

‘This tax is little more than a cut in public expenditure, designed to hit the poorest,’ he added.

‘We have produced an interim report because some glaring flaws are already apparent and notwithstanding our call for the tax to be abolished, we wish to draw these faults to the government’s attention while it is conducting a review.’

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