The local MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Keith Brown, has slammed Labour leader Keir Starmer for u-turning on Labour’s commitment to abolish the bedroom tax – after new figures reveal that Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils have been forced to spend £6,011,189 on mitigating the bedroom tax since 2019.

Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar promised during a televised debate on independence in September 2013 that “if we were in government tomorrow, we would abolish the bedroom tax” – but just this week, the party’s Economy Spokesperson in Scotland confirmed that a Labour government now won’t scrap the Tories’ bedroom tax or the two-child cap on access to benefits.

The SNP Scottish Government has long taken a principled opposition to the Labour and Tory bedroom tax, effectively mitigating the policy in Scotland through Discretionary Housing Payments.

Statistics have revealed that, since 2019, the Scottish Government has spent over £251,000,000 mitigating the bedroom tax through Discretionary Housing Payments – £68.1 million in the last year (2022-23) alone. 

Further analysis from the SNP has also shown that Scotland has 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, Keith Brown MSP said: 

“Under Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer, Labour has u-turned on their allegedly cast-iron commitment to scrap the bedroom tax which is impacting a huge number of my constituents in Clackmannanshire and Dunblane.

“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 Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, is a disgrace.

“Anas Sarwar has been taking lessons from his boss Keir Starmer with this barefaced betrayal of working people. 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 £68.1 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.”

More info on the Scottish Discretionary Housing Payments is available here: discretionary-housing-payment