The “Bedroom Tax” - Liberal Democrat Reform, Labour Hypocrisy

The Liberal Democrats will ensure that benefit claimants in social housing will no longer be penalised if their landlord cannot provide accommodation suitable to their needs. In other words, the £14 reduction in housing benefit ("bedroom tax") for an unneeded room will not apply unless the landlord can offer reasonable accommodation and the tenant refuses the offer unreasonably.

The principle of limiting Housing Benefit to match the accommodation needs of claimants was established as long ago as 1989. The then Conservative government brought in the Rent Officers (Additional Functions) Order 1989 as a needs-based restriction of benefits for claimants in privately rented housing.

The more recent 2012 Act extended this principle to claimants of working age (not OAPs) in social housing.

However, many councils, including many Labour controlled councils, implemented these new arrangements with dogged determination and inappropriate rigidity. They did not give sufficient consideration to medical or other hardship exemptions.

This approach was made worse by many councils' historic failure to match their housing stock to the actual needs of their tenants. As a result social problems began to emerge.

Now that we have the objective evidence of a year's statistics, it is clear that the regulations need to be amended. We need to recognise the difficulties for tenants when the local authority has not provided sufficient smaller flats and houses to enable those who wish to downsize, to do so.

So this new move will, without going back on the principle of matching benefit to need, make sure that tenants will no longer be penalised for something over which, as tenants, they have no control and which is the result of a failure by the local authority to provide an appropriate mix of social housing units.

This move, announced recently by Danny Alexander the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the Coalition Government, and by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, is to the credit of the party's pragmatism and sensitivity to an unfortunate social problem.

Labour on the other hand, have played a role of cynical hypocrisy throughout. There were no howls of protest from them in 1989 when the Benefit Reduction (which they now pretend is a "tax") was first introduced - albeit only in the private rental sector. Nor was there any sign of concern from Labour in 1997 when they took office. As in the case of so many things they complain about now, they took no action about it during the 13 years from 1997 to 2010 when they were in government.

Labour are facing a general election about which they cannot feel any confidence. So now, with some help from their councillor friends in the North, they are seeking political advantage by using the old Marxist tactic of trying to make things worse in the short run in the hope of making things better for themselves later on.