Cardiff MP attacks decision to appeal Court of Appeal ‘bedroom tax’ ruling

By The Press Association24th February 2016News WalesAusterity, Cardiff, Government / Politics, Housing / Homelessness, News Wales, Poverty / Austerity, Welfare Reform

The Government would “rather pay money to lawyers than to rape victims”, a Labour MP has claimed as she attacked its decision to appeal to the Supreme Court over the controversial so-called “bedroom tax”.

Jo Stevens argued the Government was continuing to attempt to “defend the indefensible” as she branded the policy an “iniquitous tax” and called for it to be “binned”.

Speaking during her debate on the regional effects of the under-occupancy penalty, the MP for Cardiff Central said it was important coming on the back of the Government’s recent judicial review defeat in the Court of Appeal where it was determined that the bedroom tax “discriminates” against victims of domestic violence and the families of severely disabled children.

She said: “The honourable thing to do would be to accept the decision of the Court of Appeal but instead the Government is proceeding to the Supreme Court and the decision is expected I think at the end of this month, early next month.”

She added: “We now have the farcical situation where the Government has appealed that decision and the legal costs of pursuing the appeal are likely to be greater than the amount it would cost them to exempt all those paying the ‘bedroom tax’ who are victims of rape and domestic violence with panic rooms.

“I can only conclude that the Government would rather pay money to lawyers than to rape victims and I challenge the minister to justify their action.”

Ms Stevens argued nearly half a million households and nearly 750,000 people had been hit by the “cruel policy”, while two thirds of affected households included a person with a disability and it impacted on 60,000 carers. 57% of those having to pay the “tax” were having to cut back on household basics such as food and heating.

There were 31,217 people affected by the “bedroom tax” in Wales and just under half a million living in social rented accommodation across Wales, adding the cost of the tax to each household affected would be £3,500 during this Parliament.

Her local authority had had its discretionary housing payments (DHP) funding cut by more than 26% between 2013/14 and 2015/16.

She said: “Households with disabled tenants, having to pay “bedroom tax”, which cannot be offset through DHP when DHP funding has been cut, simply doesn’t add up and it’s another example of the Government’s policy hitting those who can least afford it, the hardest.”

Labour’s Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) said any policy that started life with discretionary money provided by Government as a work around fund “clearly didn’t stack up in the first place”.

She urged the Government to consider value for money and practicality in the policy and what it was costing the Exchequer, “let alone the human cost”.

She said: “I fear that this ideological based politics, dog whistle politics, that appeals to certain people in parts of the country where the “bedroom tax” is a distant, remote, probably unheard of policy, whereas on the streets of my constituency I am stopped in the streets by people who want to talk about the ‘bedroom tax’.”

She called for a radical relook at “this invidious tax”, adding: “The poorest and most vulnerable are being hit in all directions, the despair and the depression that is coming through my surgery door is the worst it’s ever been.”

SNP Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) said there had been a “failure of leadership” from the Government on the issue and called on it to “do the right thing”.

Shadow work and pensions minister Debbie Abrahams described the policy as “deeply unfair, discriminatory and divisive”.

Parliamentary under secretary of state for disabled people Justin Tomlinson pointed out the last Labour Government introduced the policy into the private sector.

On DHP, he said trusting local authorities with discretion was far better than having an exhaustive list, adding: “I don’t wish to see people who should be protected to be missed by having some sort of arbitrary winners or losers line.”

The pretext to the policy, he said, was that there were 250,000 households living in overcrowded accommodation and 1.7 million people on waiting lists in England.

He said: “Members talk about is this a popular policy, I tell you with those people on that waiting list it’s a very popular policy.”

He concluded: “The Government has taken action to protect the public purse and bring a spiralling housing benefit bill under control. The removal of the spare room subsidy has already saved over £1 billion since its introduction, we are protecting the most vulnerable by giving them access to direct housing payments if they need extra help to meet housing costs.

“The policy is encouraging people to enter work and increase their earnings and we are seeing better use of our housing stock, a welcome measure for those that are on the housing waiting list and in over-crowded accommodation.”