Labour seeks to pile pressure on government to abolish the Bedroom Tax

Labour is gearing up for a major assault on the Tories over the Bedroom Tax – culminating in a full opposition day debate and vote next week on scrapping the controversial measure. After weeks of talking about energy prices, payday lenders and the living wage, the party will be returning to what it sees as another part of the cost of living crisis debate.

It’s now six weeks since Ed Miliband announced – on the eve of party conference – that Labour would abolish the Bedroom Tax should the party win the next election. Yet there has been some frustration amongst senior party figures that the decision (not taken lightly) to oppose the tax has been overlooked post-conference. The energy price freeze – whilst a boon to the party – has so far overshadowed the bedroom tax campaign and other conference announcements (such as those on Childcare) in the weeks since the media bandwagon left Brighton.

To counteract this, you can expect something of a media blitz on the Bedroom Tax over the weekend, placing renewed pressure on the government to act.

Most importantly though, Labour sees an opportunity not just to express their desire to overturn the Bedroom Tax – but to end it before the next election if possible. The Bedroom Tax will have been in place for 25 months by May 2015, and many in the Labour ranks genuinely fear that many of those affected may not be able to manage another 18 months under such financial constraints. But to repeal the Bedroom Tax now would require splitting the coalition on a keynote policy – which won’t be easy to do.

Yet the Lib Dems promised to look at the scheme again during their conference, and will be under pressure to back Labour on Tuesday – not just from new Shadow DWP Secretary Rachel Reeves, but from a significant lobby of parliament that looks set to take place on the same day.