Steve Rotheram
Main Page: Steve Rotheram (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)Department Debates - View all Steve Rotheram's debates with the Cabinet Office
(10 years, 5 months ago)
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Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
T9. Will the Deputy Prime Minister confirm whether he believes that his party’s support for the dreaded bedroom tax is in the best traditions of liberalism in this country?
The Deputy Prime Minister
I compliment the hon. Gentleman on his exotic commitment to Movember.
On the bedroom tax, as the hon. Gentleman knows, of course there are hard cases that deserve hard cash to ensure that people are dealt with flexibly and compassionately. That is why we have trebled the amount of discretionary housing payments available to £180 million. The principle that someone receives housing benefit in the social rented sector for the number of bedrooms and amount of space they need—just as they would in the private rented sector—was supported by the previous Government, and is supported by this one as well.