THE ‘bedroom tax’ will survive into the next parliament, after the Conservatives killed off a Bill that would effectively scrap it.
David Cameron was accused of “abusing the privilege of executive power”, after denying a ‘money resolution’ for the Liberal Democrat legislation. In a bitter Coalition row, the Conservatives acted after the Lib Dems refused Government time for a Tory-inspired Bill to guarantee an EU referendum.
It means the bedroom tax cannot be scrapped before May’s general election.
The Affordable Homes Bill would end the removal of the so-called ‘spare room subsidy’. Earlier this year, the Telegraph& Argus revealed that only ten per cent of Bradford tenants affected had moved to a smaller home, 281 of 2,660 households. The collapse of the Bill was attacked as a “deliberate and nonsensical tactic” by David Ward, the Lib Dem MP for Bradford East, who opposed the bedroom tax. He said: “The Liberal Democrats in Government provided the Conservatives with a very reasonable and balanced offer.”
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