Miliband to say Labour would immediately put an end to the bedroom tax

Today the Labour leader will explain how Labour would put an immediate end to the Tories’ bedroom tax.

Ed Miliband will say that this would be the first act of a new Labour government.

Around half a million people have been affected by the tax – it’s thought two-thirds of them are disabled people. Miliband will say that Labour would use a new fund, which would be distributed through local authorities, to help those affected by the tax. This money would “offset the full costs of the tax for all families currently paying it” while Labour passed through legislation to put an end to it.

Miliband will visit Cardiff, Glasgow and Bristol today to deliver this message.

He will say:

“We’re going to abolish the Bedroom Tax in every corner of the United Kingdom. This Bedroom Tax is indefensible. It’s cruel and it doesn’t even work.

“It has punished those most in need in our society, causing untold misery for half a million families across the UK, two thirds of which include a disabled person.

“It’s a tax that affects 200,000 children and 60,000 carers – people we should be helping, not hurting.​

“And under the Tories, a million more people could be hit by the tax in the next five years. This is a Government that cuts taxes for millionaires, opposes the mansion tax. It won’t abolish non-dom status but will keep the Bedroom Tax.

“I think that tells you everything you need to know about a Tory Government – and it tells you everything you need to know about a Labour Government that the first thing we’ll do is scrap it.

“We will legislate straight away to abolish the Bedroom Tax – in England, in Wales, in Scotland, right across our United Kingdom.

“We’ll get to work immediately to ensure that families no longer lose out. We’ll make new funds available to local authorities to offset the full costs of the tax for all families who currently pay it.

“So on day one of a Labour Government, we free families from the burden of the Bedroom Tax.”