Posted July 18, 2014

Published on Liberal Democrat Voice By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th July 2014 – 9:45 am

People wonder why Liberal Democrats (in Parliament) supported the Bedroom Tax in the first place. Well, I spent 4 years sitting beside a Liberal Democrat MP when maybe 5 families a week would come to us and say that they were stuck in a house that was way too small. Their kids had nowhere to study or play. That was what was foremost in their minds when they agreed the Bedroom Tax. They wanted to make it easier for those families. That was their motivation even though I think the logic of the system they chose was always flawed.

When the evidence showed them that it wasn’t working, they have very quickly changed the policy. That, to me, is sensible and something you don’t often see in a Government. I have spent long enough trying to get government organisations to fix stuff when it is clear that they have made a mistake. They just don’t admit it and stonewall you. I find it very refreshing that, within 48 hours of the report being published, Liberal Democrats have looked at the evidence and changed their approach. The party is not so hard-wired into the establishment that it thinks it gets everything right and won’t admit mistakes.

I put up Danny Alexander’s email to party members last night but he has also written for the Mirror on what the Liberal Democrats want to happen now:

Our revised proposal is that new tenants in the social rented sector would receive housing benefit based on the number of rooms they need.
But those already in the social rented sector would only see a reduction in benefit if they are offered a suitable smaller home and, crucially, turn it down.

Disabled adults should be treated the same as disabled children, by permanently exempting them.

And we would introduce new measures on social landlords to manage their stock more effectively so more people get put into the right home.

The Liberal Democrats will make the case for these new fairer rules, seeking to get them in place during this Parliament.If we can’t convince our Conservative coalition partners, we will commit to these reforms in our 2015 manifesto.

I want everyone to have the chance to live securely in a decent home. That’s why I’ve driven through measures that will deliver record numbers of affordable homes to help tackle the root cause of our housing problem, lack of supply. And it’s why our manifesto will set out plans to go further and deliver 300,000 new homes a year.

* Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron’s Musings