COLIN BEATTIE SLAMS LABOUR’S U-TURN ON “CRUEL” POLICY

​NEW RESEARCH LAYS BARE THE COST OF WESTMINSTER’S BEDROOM TAX IN MIDLOTHIAN AND EAST LOTHIAN

​Local MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Colin Beattie, has slammed Labour’s leader in Scotland, Anas Sarwar, for u-turning on his commitment to abolish the bedroom tax after new figures reveal Midlothian and East Lothian was forced to spend £6.7 million mitigating the Westminster policy.
 
Labour’s Anas Sarwar promised in 2013 “if we were in government tomorrow, we would abolish the bedroom tax”, before the party’s Economy Spokesperson in Scotland confirmed earlier this week a Labour government now won’t scrap the Tories’ bedroom tax or two-child cap on benefits.
 
Statistics have revealed that, since 2019, the Scottish Government has spent over £251,000,000 mitigating the bedroom tax through Discretionary Housing Payments.
 
Further analysis from the SNP has also shown that families in Scotland have been disproportionately hit by the bedroom tax, with one in three (33%) housing benefit claimants in Scotland having their benefits reduced compared to one in six (16%) in England.
 
Commenting, SNP MSP Colin Beattie said:
 
“Under Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer, Labour has u-turned on their cast iron commitment to scrap the bedroom tax which is impacting a huge number of my constituents in Midlothian North and Musselburgh.
 
“In the middle of a cost of living crisis, Labour’s refusal to scrap the cruel bedroom tax and ease the financial pressure on households across Midlothian North and Musselburgh, is a disgrace.
 
“Anas Sarwar has been taking lessons from his boss Keir Starmer with this barefaced betrayal of working families. After over a decade of Westminster austerity, people are crying out for real change and compassionate leadership – but Labour doesn’t want to listen.
 
“The SNP Government is being forced to mitigate the bedroom tax to the tune of £65 million a year – money that could be reinvested elsewhere if Labour had the courage to get behind the SNP and end these abhorrent policies for good.”
 
ENDS