CHARGES of cynicism and hypocrisy have been levelled at Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrat leadership after they announced a change of heart on the bedroom tax, calling for radical changes to one of the coalition's most contentious policies.
But the Deputy Prime Minister inisted the new approach was not a U-turn but a recognition that the policy was not working as it should and needed to be adjusted. The change of tack came after an internal UK Government review this week which showed almost 60 per cent of households affected by the housing benefit changes were in arrears and that a shortage of smaller properties meant less than five per cent of tenants had been able to downsize to avoid it.
Last autumn, the LibDem leadership came under intense pressure after the annual conference voted overwhelmingly to commit the party to reviewing what activists branded a "reprehensible and evil" policy.
Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who revealed the shift, defended the principle of the "spare room subsidy" reforms but admitted they now needed to be significantly adjusted.
He referred to how the LibDem conference had wanted a review, which reported this week, and had confirmed some of the party's concerns.
"That's the reason for the timing," he insisted. "It's off the back of the detailed evidence of some of the impacts."
The Highland MP made clear no-one should face a cut in state help if there was no suitable smaller property available and all disabled claimants should be exempt.
But Rachel Reeves for Labour was scathing, accusing the LibDem leadership of "unbelievable hypocrisy".
"The LibDems voted for the bedroom tax, there wouldn't be a bedroom tax if it wasn't for the LibDems.
"And in February when Labour tabled a bill to scrap the bedroom tax, the LibDems were nowhere to be seen," declared the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.
She added: "It is clear the only way to cancel the bedroom tax is to elect a Labour government next year." Meanwhile, the Tories called the LibDem move a "cynical PR stunt" and stood by the reforms.
Downing Street said there would be no change of policy.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article