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They do ?
In my experience people want anything but, equality is for places such as, um er, well Denmark.
"The working class can kiss my
I've got the foreman's job at last"
( Sung to the tune of the Internationale )
Politics is a sort of civil war. The side that is in nearly always loses sight of the fact that it may one day be out and overcooks things. However if Dave can get the Scots to back Salmond ( by raising the profile for Tory support of "Better together" ) then he is in with a chance.
Even more so if the North east vanishes beneath the fracking fields of US big oil.
Maybe that is what accounts for the sang froid of his party when all but one of the opinion polls suggests a Lab. maj. over 50.
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people want equality
then moan when it doesnt suit them :-(
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The last time we had such policies was actually the last Liberal - Conservative coalition of 1931. Some things never change.
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This government will go down in history as one of the few governments since the early 1900's to deliberately target, the poor, the disabled & the vulnerable in this country :-|
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The High Court cannot make a judgement on what is right or wrong only on a matter of law. It is Parliament who makes the laws.
In law it was always fairly obvious that this appeal would fail though it was worth a try.
As one of the darker acts of a coalition government collapsing into a mess of contradictions and delivery failure the "bedroom tax" is one of the most harmful.
The root problem is a lack of one and two bedroom properties. The reason for that is the very poor rate of construction of social housing during the last 30 years, especially in Greater London.
The DWP claim that the bedroom tax is designed to more accurately match social housing allocation with need. There might be some logic in that if there was plenty of 1/2 bedroom flats & houses for people to move into. There is not.
The people most affected by this rule are those who are in any case living on the edge and a further £ 60 / month for housing a complete impossibility. Even if they could find alternative accomodation they face a wait of months at best during which arrears will accumulate. The arrears could disqualify people from downsizing as well as risking eviction. There is no assistance with the costs of moving either. The DWP expect people to accept accommodation anywhere in England & Wales. Catch 22.
From the point of view of local authorities the various changes in housing benefit such as the bedroom tax and the "cap" are also a disaster. Another looming disaster is that from 2014 HB will be paid to tenants not landlords. Wonga and others will have a field day.
As landlords the HA and LA have little option but to pursue tenants in arrears to the point of eviction. The legal process is expensive and very unlikely to be repaid by the tenant. Inevitably the costs will end up being paid for by other tenants who will see their rents rise.
On top of that the growing difficulties of LA & HA in collecting rent will make it far harder for them to raise capital with which to finance new housing and improvements.
For the LAs the eviction process will inevitably cause them to have even more people in B&B accommodation for weeks on end costing the local taxpayers a fortune and thus forcing cuts in other parts of the budget.
Unfortunately whether it is HS2 or housing or Child Protection the High Court seems unable to decide whether something is utterly mad, it can only decide points of law. That is not the way the late and lamented Lord Denning used to see things.
The coalition seem determined to undo all of the progress in housing in Britain over the last 120 years from Peabody in social housing to the easily available mortgages ( which used to so upset John Betjeman ) and were an entrenched part of British life until as recently as 2008.
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Disabled families lose a High Court challenge to social housing benefit cuts for residents with spare bedrooms in England, Wales and Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23503095
:-(
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