Brown challenged to scrap £780 housing benefit cuts for the least well off

5.15.00pm GMT Wed 11th Nov 2009

Newcastle East Lib Dem spokesman Greg Stone has supported Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's challenge to Gordon Brown at today's Prime Minister's Questions to scrap proposed housing benefits cuts that will see the income of up to 300,000 of the poorest people in society cut by £15 a week, a total of £780 per year.

The details of the change were included in the small print of the Government's Budget, and will see housing allowance claimants who currently pay less rent than the minimum basic allowance payment stripped of the surplus.

Greg Stone said "I share Nick Clegg's deep concern on this issue and regard this change as a staggering betrayal of Labour's claim to be on the side of the least well off. It was noticeable that Gordon Brown refused to deny the allegation and refused to look again at this matter.

"I believe the Labour government and Labour's MP for Newcastle East need to explain themselves. In the middle of a recession, with unemployment now at two and a half million and rising, this Government, why does a Labour Government, wants to change the rules to take £15 a week from the poorest families in Britain?"