Liberal Democrats scotch bid to vote down bedroom tax

An attempt to scrap the controversial bedroom tax has been foiled after Liberal Democrat MPs failed to vote against the policy. The Government defeated a Labour motion to abolish what Iain Duncan Smith prefers to call the “spare room subsidy” by a reduced majority of 32, winning the vote 298 to 266.

The Liberal Democrats were accused of betraying their members after pledging earlier this year to abolish the policy which penalises housing benefit recipients seen to have a spare bedroom. Campaigners say the welfare reform has pushed many families into poverty, often because there is no smaller property for them to move to.

In a debate over the motion, Labour’s Geraint Davies accused the Tories of “ripping food out of the mouths of the poorest” and forcing people to rely on food banks.

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