Scrap bedroom tax at October Budget, SNP urges Chancellor

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to scrap the so-called bedroom tax at this month’s Budget.

The SNP has pushed the Government to move on the issue, which sees cash deducted from benefits if the recipient has a spare room in their home.

The Scottish Government has attempted to mitigate the impacts of the initiative north of the border in recent years through discretionary housing payments (DHPs).

Research from the House of Commons Library, commissioned by the SNP, shows that just shy of 100,000 households in Scotland are impacted by the bedroom tax.

The research also found that £81.8 million was deducted from the benefits of Scots in 2023-24, while the Government spent £70.4 million on mitigation of the policy and £84.9 million on DHPs as a whole.

SNP deputy Westminster leader Pete Wishart said: “Thousands of low-income families across Scotland and the UK are being pushed into poverty by punitive Labour Government policies like the bedroom tax.

“Voters in Scotland were promised change but so far all they have seen is Labour Government ministers lining their own pockets with more than £800,000 of freebies, while imposing painful austerity cuts on the rest of us.

“It’s not a good look that the Chancellor seems to be more interested in bagging designer clothes for herself than tackling poverty.

“She must use the UK Budget for a total reset, including by abolishing the bedroom tax without further delay.

“This is a cruel policy that punishes the poorest households simply for living in their family homes – and it disproportionately affects Scotland.

“It’s shameful that the Labour Government made the political choice to keep it in place.

“Politics is about priorities – the SNP government is spending hundreds of millions tackling poverty and cleaning up the mess that successive Labour and Tory UK governments have imposed on Scotland.

“If the Chancellor fails to act, the Labour Government will push even more families into poverty and cost Scotland millions of pounds every year.”

The UK Government has been contacted for comment.

The SNP is expected to ramp up pressure on the UK Government in the weeks leading up to its first major fiscal event at the end of this month, with health spending also due to be a major ask of the party, in an effort to increase funding for the health service in Scotland.