Thousands have taken to the streets across the UK to protest the proposed "bedroom tax” that intends to cut some housing benefits for occupants with a spare room in their home.
In Glasgow, around 2,500 people, including trade unionists and
people from disabled groups, packed the city Centre while
approximately 1,000 people demonstrated outside Downing Street and
Trafalgar square in London. Another thousand descended on the
Scottish capital, Edinburgh.
Under the new measure that will apply from 1 April 2013 to tenants
of working age, welfare reforms would mean a cut of a fixed
percentage. It will be set at 14 per cent for one extra bedroom and
25 per cent for two or more extra bedrooms, of the Housing Benefit
eligible rent. This means that those affected will lose an average
of £14 a week. Housing association tenants are expected to lose £16
a week on average.
According to the National House Federation, new measures will
affect some 660,000 working-age social tenants – 31 per cent of
existing working-age housing benefit claimants in the social
sector.
But protesters say that the policy will disproportionately affect
disabled people and women, and could lead to evictions.
Policymakers also question the economic behind the move, "the
bedroom tax is one of these once in a generation decisions that is
wrong in every respect," David Orr, the head of the National
Housing Federation said in a blog.
"It’s bad policy, it’s bad economics, it’s bad for hundreds of
thousands of ordinary people whose lives will be made difficult for
no benefit – and I think it’s about to become profoundly bad
politics."