LABOUR leaders have criticised SNP MPs for failing to vote for a Liberal Democrat-sponsored Bill aimed at legislating for sweeping new exemptions to the so-called "bedroom tax".
Two SNP members, Eilidh Whiteford and Michael Weir, voted with the LibDems and Labour to defeat opposition from Tory MPs, but the remaining four SNP MPs were not present.
Andrew George's Affordable Homes Bill made it through a second reading vote by 306 to 231, a majority of 75.
The private member's Bill will now move to detailed scrutiny at the committee stage.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Alex Salmond tries to con people into thinking he stands up for social justice. What happened today is that the majority of his MPs did not even turn up.
"They could not be bothered to turn up to abolish the bedroom tax. It says it all about how Alex Salmond is trying to con people.
"By contrast every Scottish Labour MP was in the House of Commons voting to get rid of the bedroom tax. It is a down-payment of what Labour will deliver in government in just eight months' time: abolishing the bedroom tax, freezing energy prices, raising the minimum wage and getting young people back to work."
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont said: "Far from standing up for Scotland, the SNP have stayed at home and let Scotland down."
The spare room subsidy has been a controversial plank of the Government's welfare reforms and Tory ministers have resisted frequent demands for the rules of the policy to be changed.
The Liberal Democrats abandoned full support for it earlier this year, insisting it was not working and changes should be made as a result.
During the debate, Conservative Minister for Disabled People Mark Harper had warned the Bill would cost £1 billion if it was made law.
Dr Whiteford, the SNP's work and pensions spokeswoman, said: "This was a defeat for the UK Government but it doesn't end the bedroom tax, which has caused misery for so many people.
"Every single Scottish MP could vote against the bedroom tax and we would still be faced with it because we can be outvoted by Tory votes from the south.
"Labour's hypocrisy on this issue is simply breathtaking - every single one of their Scottish MPs is working hand in glove in the No campaign with the Tory government who have given us the bedroom tax in the first place."
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