So we are loudly told with front page banner headlines Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are now against the bedroom tax. Oh but hang on that U-turn changed within the hour late last evening as Clegg & Compo and the rest are only for a partial revision of the bedroom tax. I see so its what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation advocated (without credulity see here) a few months back and the bedroom tax should not apply to “the disabled” and not to those who have nowhere to downsize to…or at least that is what it appears and as per usual this is soundbite politics not detailed written policy. Still lots of publicity that serves to highlight that Clegg (a) still has a pulse and (b) that Clegg still has a knack of what Prince Philip calls pedidentary – that is putting ones foot in ones mouth without any forethought!
Politics is the art of the possible and is pragmatism writ large and just as I explained with the normally excellent JRF report such a position of the bedroom tax not applying to anyone ‘disabled’ (however defined) and only applying where there is nowhere for the tenant to downsize to (however that is defined) is utterly impractical.
As it is often stated without any challenge that 63% of bedroom tax households have someone resident with a disability then this would take 63% out of the bedroom tax being applied. What flows from that is that 63% of the (alleged) savings would be lost to central government. So lets look at some numbers.
Currently 471,000 households have an average yearly bedroom tax of £748.80 applied making a theoretical maximum saving of £353 million. Note that is THE maximum possible the bedroom tax policy could save yet the coalition still maintain the saving will be £500m per year which is mathematically impossible from the above factual figures though doesn’t stop the likes of the BBC still reporting them a that is what Freud et al still disingenuously maintain!
“Ministers say private sector renters do not get spare rooms for free, and argue the policy will save around £500m a year. But critics say it is forcing households into arrears”
says the BBC today here yet as the basic arithmetic above reveals the Ministers have overestimated the maximum an theoretically possible savings by £147m per year or by 42% whichever you prefer!
So as 63% are disabled the maximum theoretical saving to central government reduces by 63% to £130 million or a whopping 74% less than the aforesaid innumerate Ministers still adhere to!
But presumably the government would then not have to provide the £60m of DHPs they allocate to local government to mitigate the impacts of the bedroom tax (and see HB circular SI/2014 which details this allocation).
So the maximum saving becomes £190m per year and £310m less than the coalition (oh yes that include Clegg and Compo et al) still illogically maintain it holds and seek. But hang on then we would need to reduce that figure by taking out of the bedroom tax those current tenants who could not downsize due to no smaller properties being available.
The DWP proudly proclaimed in April that 6% of social tenants had downsized and the sham of an alleged bedroom tax monitoring report released yesterday said much the same. Hence 94% cannot downsize as the smaller properties are not available. Ergo the £190m maximum theoretical saving must reduce by 94% leaving just a maximum theoretical saving of £11.4 million per year – which is some £488.6m less than the innumerate coalition ministers claim it does save and seek!
So we arrive at a point which sees the absolute maximum ‘saving’ from the bedroom tax become £11.4 million or thereabouts.
To set against this we have the added public purse costs of administering the bedroom tax which is done by 340 or so local authorities on the government behalf. 471,000 or so additional HB decisions means if each decision costs more than £24.20 each then this extraordinarily cheap cost per case would see the cost of the bedroom tax outweigh the maximum £11.4m it could save!
Oh hang on what about the estimated £1500 per case each bedroom tax appeal cots central government as this too is an additional cost of the bedroom tax.
Sorry reader, I realise the above contains sums and many of you don’t really like sums but then you are in good company as clearly the coalition don’t like sums either! If you didn’t already think Clegg was an incompetent buffoon you must realise that now, though I do have to admire his outrageous optimism as he clearly believes he and his Liberal Democrats have any power or influence now within the coalition or will be in any such position after the May 2015 general election.
He is almost as deluded as anyone who asserts the bedroom tax in its current pernicious guise saves any money such as IDS and Freud, though their delusions are they can fool all of the people all of the time with their repeated lies which still get repeated even after they have been found out.
While I am constructively criticising this charade I cannot leave out the Daily Mirror who are tweeting like mad across social media sites that “Its the Mirror that did it” and similar nonsense. Did what dear reader..oh yes… claim a victory for the bedroom tax with this even more back of a fag packet idea that Clegg has come up with that is just as much back of a fag packet as the original delusion of IDS in the bedroom tax itself.
Though of course the real scorn needs to be directed at Her Majesty’s official Opposition, that is the Labour Party. Not once have they challenged the innumerate and delusional assertion of the coalition that the bedroom tax saves £500m per year. As all that takes is the ability to multiply the number of households (471,000) by the average yearly cut (£749) which gives a maximum of £353m and reveals the coalition is over egging the maximum possible saving by 42% and is therefore must be lying as well as being incompetent and innumerate.
Sorry reader I cant be bothered wasting any more of my time or yours with this charade. The idea put forward by Clegg and immediately revised cant work and is a nonsensical and illogical idea by a politician and the party he leads desperate to hold onto any last vestiges of ‘power’ he believes he and his party has. The fact the media hype this into a story while not knowing what the hell they are talking about and without the competence to do some basic maths on a £1 calculator…well what’s new!
10pm UPDATE
I have just watched what can only be called car crash politics with Lib Dem Danny Alexander attempting to explain the new Lib Dem bedroom tax policy…and if Clegg is an idiot which he is then Danny Alexander is the biggest incompetent f*ckwit!
Not only does he squirm and wriggle and finally give in and watch here as it is so cringeworthy to be amusing BUT Danny Alexander states he is going to put a new DUTY on councils and housing associations to reduce under occupancy.
A DUTY is a mandatory action that can ONLY apply to a PUBLIC body yet of course the real name of housing associations is PRIVATE REGISTERED PROVIDERS and no government can put any form of DUTY upon a private body. It seems the erstwhile Mr Alexander does not know this and why should he as he has only been in high politic office at the centre of government for 4 years yet a spotty 16 year-old kid studying any form of government or law could tell you this fact that Danny Alexander clearly does not know!
Do you think dear reader that the Lib Dems are a tad unprepared and a tad incompetent to be trying to wriggle out of their vote FOR the bedroom tax and making a huge pig’s ear out if it?
Politics is like a septic tank, the big chunks always rise to the top!!!
PS Do watch the C4 interview it is so funny!!
SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites) 
Here here my good man, finally we start to see the truth, I.e that Labour are as effective as a chocolate teapot and certainly WILL NOT save us from this mess, and alas what we all already knew in that the Liberals are a crowd of followers NOT doers but yet the same could easily, and should in truth be leveled at the current Labour party, opposition someone should really point out what that means? as they clearly don’t know, and have yet to show any opposition to ANY bedroom tax related items??? and this is the party that MANY against BT are pinning their hopes on to save us all from the evil tax, when oh when will they wake up, when oh when will they realise BT is here to stay at least for the forseeable future and certainly won’t be overridden by either Labour or Liberals
Well, yes, of course he is an idiot!! None of us think otherwise. I highly suspect he thinks it’s a ‘vote puller’. And, that WE are the idiots.
The conservatives state, the policy, will continue.
I don’t believe Labour are ‘our saviours’ either.
I’ve just heard Rachael Reeves reaction on the radio. We need to build more social housing, she says. DOH!!
We don’t want certain sections of our society, such as the Disabled being made exempt if they can’t move to the NON EXISTENT smaller adapted properties.
It has to be abolished for everyone.
Where’s the research on the amount of stress and complete misery this policy has caused to the thousands affected??
Having to choose between eating or paying the Bedroom Tax. Or, thinking they are better off dead.
There will never be any accountability.
That’s what makes me so angry. I could scream.
But Labour will abolish the bedroom tax for all! They have to win the election first though.
My father who was a stout socialist and old Labour supporter always told me the Liberals are a complete waste of time, they can never make up their minds and always follow like puppies God rest his soul
Poor Liberal Democrats know the General Election is coming and trying any cynical ploy to put clear blue water between them and the Conservatives. Looking at the Euro Election results which saw the annihilation of Liberal Democrat MEPs with just 1 left we should expect increasingly desperate and cynical u-turns and new policies being announced by Clegg and his merry band in an attempt to cling to the greasy pole of Parliamentary power. Clegg and co should have taken a principled stand years ago and consigned this policy to the dustbin of history. Instead they propped up the Conservatives and gave this Frankenstein monster life. Now this monster is out of control they suddenly find they are opposed to the very policy they voted for and have been acting as the Conservatives apologists ever since.
The last thing the lib dems said they were going to fight in the run up to a general election was university tuition fees. Once given the choice they chose to triple the fees from £3k to £9k. Applying this to the bedroom tax would see them easily bust the £500m savings.
Libs & Labs no difference now both have their balls taken from them and most certainly DONT have the intelligence to get a new pair, and do what they should have done to begin with and oppose the damn think, maybe then we wouldn’t be here, in this situation today. in opposition I am sure even the conservatives could have made less of a mess of it all, many stating clearly now UKIP have a real chance here, and that would be a true tragedy should that be allowed to happen, that said in the light of this, other u-turns, and catalogues of error and indecision, we see week on week, the next election will tell the story when again its too late, whatever route it goes in BT is unlikely to be top of the pile for change let’s be clear about that, irrespective of what they choose to tell you!!
any person that vote labour conservative or lib/dem want their heads examined these are the 3 main party’s that got us into this mess in the first place the sold off everything they sold us out to the EU the only Person I have seen stand up for the People was the UKIP MEP’s when they turned their backs on the EU flag and their sash and their anthem time to get new blood and A Prime Minister that will fight for the people and get us off our nee’s and make us a proud country again while
standing tall
@ Glen – Totally agree about the three main parties, labour particularly a great many of the “NO” bedroom tax campaigners are all for Labour believing they will ride in on a white chariott and save us all (I mean is almost four years now) NOT enough time to have saved us from BT!! some of us have been campaigning for almost three years now on BT yet we were overreacting, Liying, or causing hysteria ??? NO actually we were simply warning what was coming, whilst the powers that be were doing SFA to help, nor were they opposing, blocking nor challenging in anyway the onset of BT, yet they have to now be trusted to be our saviours, some how as you say anyone with half a brain wouldn’t vote for them, the worrying thing however is that a deal of what Mr Farage has said is almost certifiable but then I suppose when put against likes of our Boris he’s tame, the unknown I suggest would be the big worry with UKIP I see many voting for their local green or independent candidate in this gen election at least that’s what a growing number of users are now telling me they will do!! and I don’t disbelieve them, only the big three really have the experience, the backing and knowledge however to run the country (gee I really hope Scotland gains it’s freedom before all this starts to happen) but your dead right we do need a change of Gov a new fresh party, a real party for the people, who that shall be, your guess is as good as mine I would suggest (looks through phonebook for The Raving Lord Such’s descendants, damn NO listing dashed 118-118 guys thought they knew everything apparently not then) so all in all a lot of drama still to come on this one …………
The pressure on people charged bedroom tax to downsize has greatly reduced the number of homes available for pensioners who want to move to smaller homes without stairs [pensioners are of course exempt]. This means that there are pensioners, many widowed, in houses they cannot afford to heat. The bedroom tax is therefor not even helping to release larger homes for families. Investment in exchange schemes which cover moving and redecoration costs would be more effective. More carrots and fewer sticks!
This artical proves two things 1) this government relies on the skewing of figures to justify its cruel attacks on those they stereotype as leeches and unworthy of help, and 2) that the liberals are weak kneed followers who traded all of the principles they stood for in exhange for a taste of power. Being part of one of the most oppressive and tyranical british regimes in living memory they have proven themselves to be neither ‘liberal’ or ‘democratic’. The absolute opposite in fact. How cleg and co sleep at night for selling out their beliefs is beyond me.
Surely as they claim the Bedroom Tax saves them money, but it can only do so if you fail to/ cannot downsize so are hit with the tax, or are made homeless (or worse) due to spiralling debts because of it, then it must be in breach of international human rights legislations, and other international laws.
You cannot have a law/tax that can only function, through a tax aimed solely at the very poor, and through homelessness, malnutrition and death of the poor, and only the poor.
To think this is happening in Britain in 2014.
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
This is about care; care about the people of this country, rather than the landlords. What it is not is a way of tackling housing needs. Neither is it a way of reducing the national debt.
As for political policies…
LibDems are not Liberals.
New Labour is not Labour.
Tories have no mandate. They are a minority government propped up by LibDems. Without the turncoat Clegg, they could not piss in a potty. With Clegg they have systematically destroyed large swathes of the care infrastructure of the UK while grabbing more wealth for the wealthy.
The only party with any kind of chance of amelioration to this hideous crime is the Greens.
The only way they will be able to do anything is by pushing Labour into becoming a caring party again.
Thing is, for anyone in the coalition to come out now and say Bedroom tax is “TOTALLY” wrong, will be admitting they were at fault for the suffering and dying caused by this government.
The challenges for compensation, for those who suffered, the families of those who died, those made homeless, and those moved 100s of miles away, will open the floodgate for the ATOS & DWP cases too.
That is a whopping compensation bill that will have to be paid even if under a Labour government.
Is this why The Lib-Dems only partly condemn the Bedroom Tax, and Labour refuse to talk about or admit the 1000s dead since 2010/2011, because it will cost far too much to compensate for? And will make Whoever is in power look financially inept as the spiralling cost of it all eats into the treasury’s budgets. Any legal minds out there?
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
SPeye Joe does the maths to show that if the Coalition does adopt the reforms of the bedroom tax Clegg has just announced, the maximum saving will be just over £11 million, much less than the £500 million savings the coalition boasted would be made from the tax. And if you factor in the cost of the appeals and administrating the tax, it turns from a miniscule saving into a loss. Which shows that Clegg and co really are a bunch clowns.
Further buffoonery is provided by Danny Alexander, who has announced that the Lib Dems want to make downsizing social tenants mandatory for local councils and housing associations, without realising that housing associations are private bodies and so would be exempt. Positive proof that the Lib Dems are not just malign, but massively ignorant and incompetent. The impression is of Jim Hacker of the ‘Yes, Minister’, TV series, with none of Hacker’s innocent naivety and charm as the hapless political ingénue caught up in the Machiavellian schemes of Sir Humphrey. It is instead as if they’re Sir Humphrey, but come back as prats rather than smooth, plausible schemer.