On Wednesday (17 December) Labour MPs voted to immediately abolish the Bedroom Tax, which has left around half a million of Britain’s households £700 worse off.
Ed Miliband has promised that a Labour government in 2015 would abolish the tax, which unfairly punishes families said to be ‘under-occupying’ their homes, even though in the vast majority of cases there are no smaller homes for them to move to. In South Tyneside alone over 3,000 people are affected.
Two thirds of the households affected include people with disabilities, and 60,000 unpaid carers also face a penalty.
Emma has raised this issue repeatedly in Parliament, including with David Cameron, Nick Clegg and the Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith. She also led a debate on the tax last year, and voted for the Affordable Homes Bill that would have protected some of the worst hit, including disabled people. On Wednesday she again voted with Labour MPs to immediately abolish the tax, but sadly Coalition MPs defeated the motion.
As well as abolishing the Bedroom Tax, Labour has pledged to build 2 million new homes by 2020 to help address overcrowding and the lack of quality housing. Under the current Government, house building is at its lowest level since the 1920s.
Emma said:
“The Bedroom Tax represents everything that is wrong with this Tory-led Government. Rather than deal with the real problems of housing supply, instead they attack the poor and the disabled. Everyone knows that there are not enough one bedroom homes to go around, but that hasn’t stopped the Government punishing people for something they can’t control.
“Even by the standards of this Government the Bedroom Tax is an appalling and cruel policy. I want this policy scrapped, and only Labour can make that happen.”