Islwyn MP Chris Evans joined other Labour MPs recently to vote against the so-called ‘Bedroom Tax’ during a Parliamentary debate.
Mr Evans said: “The coalition government’s ‘Bedroom Tax’ has hit the poorest and most vulnerable in our community hardest.
“Despite clear evidence that the Bedroom Tax is causing financial hardship and forcing thousands of people to rely on food banks, the government continues to support it.
“I have opposed the idea of a Bedroom Tax since it was first mentioned, and I will continue to do all I can to get it repealed.”
More Labour hypocrisy, it was Labour themselves who introduced housing
benefit restrictions in 2008, The Local Housing Allowance for tenants of private
landlords who were claiming housing benefit, this was an effort to make those in receipt of housing benefit find cheaper accommodation. The Under Occupancy Surcharge was merely extended by the coalition to include those in social housing as well as those renting privately. Ed Milliband himself voted for the introduction of the under occupancy surcharge as part of the welfare reform act 2007, the ‘bedroom tax’ is wholly a Labour initiative.
Why should the tax payers of the country subsidise council tenants who are living in a house which is larger than there needs. Those of us who go out to work for a living do so in order to give ourselves more choices in life, do we want to live in a one bedroom semi or a three bed detached, those who sponge of the state deserve only two choices – take it or leave it.
Clearly the social housing benefit reduction regulations introduced by the `minority`, “without any mandate to do anything at all really`, Tory Lib Dem, cobbled together, crew, are responsible for this odious tax on th poor.
If some had their way of course it would make no difference to them if people were sleeping in the streets or children were taken into care, and families who pay this tax from low wage pay packets cannot afford proper healthy meals, or to properly heat thier homes.
It means nothing to them if local Councils up and down Wales had to pay to care for children taken into care as a result of families not being able to pay this tax, and having to accept a larger burden on the public purse than if the reduction in benefits had not been introduced in the first place.
The very same supporters of this tax are the same people who would deny working people a living wage, probably using the excuse that any job is better than no job, well, not if the rest of the tax paying public have to then top up low wages with benfits just so that Companies can employ people on subsistance pay levels, whilst filling their own dinner tables `bowing under the weight of huge and increasing profits` made off the backs of those very same low paid workers
This odious regulation will be reversed next May when Labour wins the general election. No Contest..
The Under Occuopancy Surcharge would if enforced correctly make more efficient use of housing stock and perhaps even create some housing for the homeless, as nobody in this day and age should be sleeping on the streets. This is not a one size fits all policy and there are going to be exceptional cases which need to be taken into consideration, but generally why should somebody be living in a council house with one or possibly two spare rooms when another family could make better use of that housing stock, because at the end of the day that’s all they are, housing stock that do not belong to the people who are living in them.
Yes I support the Under Occupancy Surcharge and I am a low paid working person that does not earn the so called living wage. I have never in my working life earned anywhere near the living wage and have spent the last few years working for the minimum wage yet I own my own home and have worked hard to keep a roof over my head, so why should I like many other tax payers subsidise a council tenants spare room.
The problem with today’s society is that Labour have created a generation of folk that believe they have a God given right to get something for nothing, they’ve been brainwashed into believing that it’s not their fault that they are poor and it’s not their fault they’ve got no money to feed yet another snotty nosed kid that they’ve just popped out – well 90% of the time it is their fault actually. I would love a Ferrari but sadly for me I can’t afford one, I don’t sit on my back side crying about it I simply accept the fact that the man who drives a Ferrari is wealthier and better than me and so good luck to him, I know my position in society and the have not’s of this world need to recognise theirs, the welfare system simply can not afford to pay for everybody to live in houses that are beyond their needs something somewhere has to give – how about Wales abolishes free prescriptions in order to pay for council tenants spare rooms, after all why should somebody earning £25k a year get free prescriptions! But that’s just my opinion.
Paul, you say, “I have never in my working life earned anywhere near the living wage and
have spent the last few years working for the minimum wage yet I own my
own home and have worked hard to keep a roof over my head”,
Well, what you say here is impossible, unless, of course, you inherited your home, had it bought for you, or combined a much larger `household` income in order to aquire a mortgage, it is certinly NOT possible to buy and own a property earning only the minimum wage. Pay Council tax, ( unless you get housing benefit and dont pay Council tax?) Insure the property, pay all utility bills on a property bigger than a bedsit, pay your TV licence, and buy food, unless you visit food banks of course, and you certainly would`nt run a car? do you, on minimum wage that is.
You try to make a case which is a dicotomy, and fail. unless you can elucidate????.
No it’s not impossible, I’m 48 and started working full time aged 16, I worked as many hours as I could including virtually every weekend, living at home with my parents I was able to save enough money to buy my first house aged 24 ( with also the maximum mortgage that I could get ) The banks were chucking it around back in 1990. I continued working as much overtime that was offered until I was able to move up the ladder to a slightly larger house. In 2006 I was made redundant so used the redundancy money to pay off some of the mortgage. The only work I could find was in a warehouse paying the minimum wage, thankfully the falling interest rate and renting out my spare room allowed me to pay the mortgage and keep hold of the house I had worked so hard to get.
You see it’s not impossible if you are prepared to work hard and cut your cloth to suit your needs, no I never earned much per hour I just made sure I worked a great deal of hours, but I was never employed on a salary anywhere near the so called living wage. I also never had children because I was responsible enough to realise that I could not afford children in my circumstances, I never smoked, never had sky tv, never went on holiday, but yes I even had a car although a very small cheap one, sadly not a Ferrari. Like I say the trouble with today’s feckless workshy lot is that they have been brainwashed by Labour into wrongly believing that being poor is not their fault and they all deserve a hand out for doing nothing.
He is another MP who wants to give everything away for nothing. The people living inefficiently do not deserve to have the extra room paid for by the state.
I live in a large house with a spare guest bedroom and another one which I use as an office. Maybe I should drawn up a demand for a subsidised mortgage payment if the ‘Bedroom Tax’ is reserved.