This week the government lost a vote in the House of Commons on the ‘bedroom tax’. Despite a 3 line Tory whip, a private member’s bill to exempt those who cannot move to a smaller home, or who are disabled and live in an adapted property was passed 306 votes to 231.
Cllr Mick Lerry , Labour candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said “I’ve spoken to many people in the Bridgwater and West Somerset Constituency who have told me that they are struggling to cope with the hated bedroom tax, introduced by the Tories and Liberal Democrats in Westminster. In the South West Region alone over 25,560 people have been affected. The Government were defeated in the House of Commons, regarding an aspect of the Bedroom Tax, which will be good news for some residents”.
The next Labour government will abolish it
“This is a policy that unfairly hits hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, such as those with disabilities or who are carers, and it threatens to cost more than it saves which is why the next Labour government will abolish it”, says Mick.
The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly backed the Tories to keep the Bedroom Tax in place and have refused to join previous Labour attempts to scrap the policy. Yet last Friday the Liberal Democrats joined with the Labour MPs by voting against their own policy in Parliament.
Unfortunately this vote will not abolish the bedroom tax, as Labour will do if elected next year, but it is a step in the right direction and a glimmer of hope for many.
The Labour Party has been clear and consistent in its opposition to the Bedroom Tax. It is an unfair and unworkable policy that causes misery to hundreds of thousands of people by forcing them out of their homes, most of whom have nowhere else to move to.
The Liberal Democrats voted with Labour on Friday, but sadly it’s come too late for the thousands of people who’ve been forced into debt as a result of the Bedroom Tax and thousands more who have been forced to rely on food banks to survive. The truth is you can’t trust a word that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats say.
Lidell-Grainger no show
Ian Liddell-Grainger MP was not at Parliament to vote, so he needs to explain to his constituents, which way he would have voted in the debate.
“The only sure way to get the Bedroom Tax repealed will be to elect a Labour government next year”, says Mick.
Cllr Mick Lerry – Leader of the Labour Group on Sedgemoor District Council
Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset Constituency
Mobile: 07775905080
Email: michael.lerry@btinternet.com
How about a refund for those who have been so unfairly treated – an increase in the top rate of income tax should claw back enough and more to do this. The question is what can we do about those who have died unncessarily because of this punitive measure ? Personally I would hold IDS to account for, at the very least, manslaughter – the man is an arrogant prig who doesn’t give a damn. Our own MP needs to be taken to task for supporting this policy (and all the other wicked schemes the tories have thought up) when he has no mandate, as the majority of those who voted in this constituency at the last general election didn’t vote for him.