Tag Archives: bedroom tax

Stephen Tall

Margaret Thatcher, the 1983 election and the ‘bedroom tax’

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd April 2013 - 8:35 pm

margaret-thatcherLike Caron, I spent more than a healthy amount of my Bank Holiday Monday watching BBC Parliament’s re-run of the 1983 general election.

It’s not an election I remember (I was 6). But the symmetry of yesterday’s hyperbolic Guardian (‘The day Britain changed’) front page and the televised reminder of Margaret Thatcher’s first landslide seemed calculated to confirm the left’s view that 1st April 2013 marked the ultimate victory of those on the right who wanted (and still want) to destruct the welfare state.

What Mrs T, Geoffrey Howe …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , and | 29 Comments
The Voice

LibLink: Danny Alexander – Bedroom blockers and tax dodgers will pay

By The Voice | Sun 31st March 2013 - 4:45 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander has published a robust defence of the Coalition’s welfare reforms in The Sun on Sunday. Here’s how it starts:

Last week a young woman came to talk to me about her housing situation. Her frustration was obvious. She was working hard in a low-paid job and was stuck in an overcrowded home with a young family and desperately needed to move to a bigger home. She couldn’t understand why she had to wait so long to get a home that was the right size for her and her family. It’s a story

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , and | 50 Comments
John Coburn

Opinion: The ‘Bedroom Tax’ does not pass the Fairer Society test

By John Coburn | Tue 19th March 2013 - 4:32 pm

The leadership’s positioning over secret courts has angered many of the party faithful over the past week, but for me the major disappointment  has been our uncritical support of the Tory inspired ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ policy or how I think more accurately describes it – the ‘bedroom tax’.  Our leader Nick Clegg used the provocative ‘spare bedroom subsidy’ term in a Q&A session at last week’s Spring Conference, and it has been repeated by senior Lib Dems including Mike German on Newsnight in the days following.

The policy, which is part of the government’s welfare reform package, will cut the amount …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 48 Comments
Caron Lindsay

“Bedroom Tax” – should social landlords be doing more to encourage swaps?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th February 2013 - 9:36 am

The “bedroom tax” which is not actually a tax, but a cut in Housing Benefit if a tenant in social housing has more bedrooms than they are deemed to need, has caused much anxiety and disquiet in recent weeks. Its introduction in April means that tenants in social housing will need to find around £60 a month on already hard-pressed budgets. If they are unable to pay the extra, then they face eviction. Even ifsocial landlords decide not to evict and merely to pursue rent arrears, the stress of that debt and its impact on a family’s ability to keep …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 69 Comments
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