Labour will tomorrow (Tuesday) use an Opposition Day Debate to call on the Government to repeal the Bedroom Tax with immediate effect, in the light of evidence that the policy is unfair and unworkable.

Labour will highlight evidence showing that the Bedroom Tax could cost more than it saves. However, to ensure it can be reversed without any additional borrowing, the party will call for funds to be raised by reversing recent tax cuts benefiting the wealthy and cracking down on bogus self-employment in the construction industry.

The Bedroom Tax hits 660,000 housing benefit claimants including over 400,000 disabled people. For the vast majority of those affected, there is nowhere smaller to move to, hitting vulnerable people with an average bill of £720 a year through no fault of their own. Those who do move often end up in the private rented sector which means a higher Housing Benefit bill for the taxpayer.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ own impact assessment shows:

• Over 400,000 of those affected are disabled, according to the government’s own figures

• The tax also hits 220,000 households with children which, based on average UK family size, could mean as many as 375,000 children affected

• Families hit will be forced to move or face losing an average £14 a week, or £720 a year.

In addition, there is mounting evidence that the policy is resulting in unanticipated costs and perverse consequences as families are pushed into more expensive private rented accommodation while local housing providers’ budgets are hit by mounting arrears.

Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:

“This out-of-touch Government is hitting hard-pressed families at the sharp end of the cost-of-living crisis with the Bedroom Tax at the same time as cutting taxes for millionaires. And there is mounting evidence it isn’t even saving the money the government said it would.

“It’s time to repeal this unjust and unworkable policy – and this vote gives MPs a chance to show where they stand. But if Tory and Lib Dem MPs vote against repeal, we won’t let them forget it – and we’ll step up our campaign to elect a Labour government that will.”

The motion for Labour’s Opposition Day Debate will be:

“That this House regrets the pernicious effect on vulnerable and in many cases disabled people of deductions being made from Housing Benefit paid to working age tenants in the social housing sector deemed to have an excess number of bedrooms in their homes; calls on the government to end these deductions with immediate effect; furthermore calls for any cost of ending them to be covered by reversing tax cuts which will benefit the wealthiest and promote avoidance, and addressing the tax loss from disguised employment in construction; and further calls on the government to use the funding set aside for Discretionary Housing Payments to deal with under-occupation by funding local authorities so that they are better able to help people with the cost of moving to suitable accommodation.”