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Fresh bedroom tax defeat for government

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 11:44 AM

The House of Lords has inflicted another defeat on the government over its plans for a bedroom tax on social housing tenants.

The welfare reform bill will dock an average of £14 a week from 670,000 tenants who have one or more spare bedrooms.

Campaigners say many are not spare but used, for example, by people with a disabled partner, parents with shared custody of their children or kids who need separate rooms. They also say that there are no alternative smaller homes.

The government reversed an earlier Lords defeat by claiming financial privilege in the House of Commons. The new amendment would exempt disabled people, war widows and foster carers where there is no suitable alternative accommodation.

Crossbench peer Lord Best rejected pleas from welfare reform minister Lord Freud to withdraw it. He said: "I see it as incumbent on us in this House to take a stand, even a modest one, to draw a line where deficit reduction is at the expense of many thousands of the very poorest households."

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated it will reverse the amendment when it comes back to the Commons next week under the parliamentary ping-pong procedure.

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