Labour to scrap hated Bedroom Tax

Ed Miliband will use a speech at party conference on Saturday to commit a future Labour government to repealing the coalition's Bedroom Tax.

Ed Miliband will use a speech at party conference on Saturday to commit a future Labour government to repealing the coalition’s Bedroom Tax.

He will also say that chancellor Ed Balls has already earmarked funds to pay for it.

Miliband will say that the Bedroom Tax has become a symbol of an out of touch government standing up only for the interests of a privileged few.

He will also detail how two-thirds of the 660,000 affected by the policy are disabled and the vast majority do not have the option of moving to smaller accomodation.

The National Housing Federation and the National Audit Office have previously questioned whether the Bedroom Tax will raise any money for the treasury, and Miliband will set out where the money will come from to pay for the repeal of the policy, promising no extra borrowing for social security promises.

Instead, repeal of the Bedroom Tax will be paid for by:

  • Reversing George Osborne’s £150 million tax cut for hedge funds announced in Budget 2013;
  • Scrapping George Osborne’s “shares for rights” scheme which has been rejected by businesses and has opened up a tax loophole of up to £1 billion;
  • Tackling tax scams in the construction industry which is costing £500million in lost revenue.

Left Foot Forward reported yesterday that one in three council tenants hit by the Bedroom Tax have fallen behind on their rent since its introduction, according to new figures from the TUC.

7 Responses to “Labour to scrap hated Bedroom Tax”

  1. Juteman

    Unless he promises to use the actual words, ‘scrapping the bedroom tax WILL be in our manifesto’, then I don’t believe him.

  2. cynicalhighlander

    Still nothing about tackling tax avoidance which costs Britain £120 billion every year as we mustn’t harm our future jobs in the financial industry must we fellow millionaires.

  3. Juteman

    If elected, I will promise….
    Those words don’t mean anything. What if he is replaced?
    What if he promises to scrap it, but not right now? 🙂

  4. David Lindsay

    This had been a very open secret on the Left for months. We had all expected it to be in the Leader’s Speech.

    That ought still to include a promise to force a Commons vote on it and thus challenge the Lib Dems, a promise to enable and require councils to build houses, a promise to restore the Agricultural Wages Board that the Lib Dems have abolished, a promise to reverse the dismantlement of England’s NHS by Shirley Williams and other Lib Dems, a promise to reverse any privatisation of the Royal Mail and thus stop it because no buyer would take the risk, and a promise to renationalise the railways for free over the course of a Parliament by simply taking back each franchise as it came up for renewal.

    Plus a demand for a straight In-Out EU referendum on the day of next year’s European Elections, which only the Coalition could deliver, since it will still be the Government on that day. Another Commons vote beckons, this time challenging both Coalition parties.

    Ed Miliband, over to you.

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