PMQs: Housing benefit tensions reach fever pitch
Ed Miliband succeeded in heightening government division over plans to cap housing benefit today, in his third prime minister’s questions as Labour leader.
The Commons was dominated by criticisms of proposals to cap the benefit at £400 for family homes with more than four bedrooms.
Mr Cameron, defending the policy in spite of growing dissent from Lib Dem backbenchers, made a future U-turn harder by insisting the government would not back down.
His comments followed media reports suggesting work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith may be prepared to look at the plans again.
The prime minister admitted the housing benefit cuts were “difficult” but insisted: “We are going forward with all the proposals we put in the spending review and in the Budget.”
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Mr Miliband replied: “The whole House will have heard the prime minister has dug himself in.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes has reportedly held talks with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg over the plans.
Potential rebels like Tom Brake and Adrian Sanders have been outspoken in their opposition to the plans, which will see the benefit cut for some of Britain’s poorest households by ten per cent.
And serial dissenter Bob Russell finished the session with a question calling on Mr Cameron to abandon the policy.
“This is not a laughing matter for the thousands of children who could become homeless,” he told the prime minister.
Mr Cameron said he agreed the issue was “incredibly serious” but argued many people working in Colchester, Mr Russell’s seat, “could not dream” of living in a house where it cost £20,000 a year to live.
Later in the day Liberal Democrat communities minister Andrew Stunell insisted the party’s influence in government meant it would deliver the biggest net increase in social housing for 30 years.
“More social homes will be built this year than in any year under the last Labour gvernment,” he said.
“Times are tough and we need to learn how to do more with less in every aspect of government policy, including social housing. But despite the difficult economic times, and unlike Thatcher and Blair, Liberal Democrats in gvernment will deliver an increase in affordable housing.”
Tensions within the coalition about plans to cap housing benefit were raised yesterday in a standoff between Mr Clegg and shadow justice minister Chris Bryant.
Mr Hughes listened in the chamber yesterday as Mr Clegg was repeatedly confronted by the issue during deputy prime minister’s questions.
“It is estimated that 200,000 people will be forced out of major metropolitan areas as a result of the government’s niggardly proposals on welfare reform, which will turn London into Paris, with the poor consigned to the outer ring,” Mr Bryant said.
He complained that poor people were being “socially engineered and sociologically cleansed out of London”.
Mr Clegg called Mr Bryant’s remarks “outrageous”, replying: “We all indulge in a bit of hyperbole, but I have to say to the honourable gentleman quite seriously that to refer to ‘cleansing’ will be deeply offensive to people who have witnessed ethnic cleansing in other parts of the world.”
The deputy prime minister said the cap on family homes was worth £21,000 a year. He said it was not fair that the state subsidise people to this amount when people cannot afford to live privately in those areas”.”
Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and backbencher John Cryer also questioned Mr Clegg on the issue.
“Something has gone seriously wrong with a housing benefit system that has more than doubled in recent years, from £10 billion to £21 billion, and has locked many people into long-term dependency,” Mr Clegg added.
“It has not created incentives to work, or incentives for house builders to build more affordable homes.
“We plan to increase capital investment in house building, reform housing benefit, and build up to 400,000 affordable homes over the coming decade.”
