Express & Star

'Hateful' bedroom tax condemned by Walsall MP

Walsall North MP David Winnick has called the bedroom tax 'hateful' during question time to the Prime Minister.

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He made the comments in the House of Commons earlier this week and compared it to the controversial Tory poll tax in the 1990s that was eventually axed.

The veteran Labour MP said: "Is the Prime Minister aware that the hateful bedroom tax will be remembered just like the Tory poll tax, which destroyed Margaret Thatcher's premiership? He should be ashamed that such a notorious tax came in on his watch."

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, responded: "What the Hon.Gentleman and others on the Labour benches have to explain is why it is right that people in private rented accommodation who are claiming housing benefit do not get a spare room subsidy but they think people who are living in council housing should get a spare room subsidy.

"The second question they are going to have to answer is why did they oppose £83 billion of reductions in welfare which has helped us to maintain spending on health and schools, while taking three million of the poorest people out of tax altogether?"

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