“Rushed and ill considered” housing benefit plans

Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem Deputy Leader, warned that he would vote against proposals to dock housing benefits payouts by 10 per cent from unemployed claimants who had been out of work for more than a year. The Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed that all Liberal Democrats serving within the Government would be expected to back the plans. Sources said that as Mr Hughes was not a member of the Government, he would not be disciplined if he failed to back the measure. But a rebellion led by such a senior figure within the party would be highly embarrassing for Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister, and lead to significant tensions within the Coalition. During a Commons’ debate on the housing benefit proposals, Mr Hughes, who represents the inner London constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said moves to cap payouts at £400 a week must not result in residents being driven from their communities. He added: “The proposal to knock 10 per cent off people’s benefit if they have been out of work for a year is not a proposal I can support.” – The Telegraph

Douglas Alexander, the shadow work and pensions secretary, today accused the government of “running scared” of its own MPs overhousing benefit plans he branded “rushed and ill-considered”. But Alexander was criticised for saying Labour was “in favour” of housingbenefit reform but giving few other details. Labour dedicated its opposition day debate to the coalition’s housing benefit changes, which include a 10% cut from 2013 for those out of work for more than a year and an overall cap of £250 a week for a one-bedroom property, rising to £400 a week for a four-bedroom or larger home. The raft of changes will also see new social housing tenants face rental charges of up to 80% of market rate. The government is also imposing a £500 cap on the total benefits a household can claim per week. – The Guardian

PLP unrest over Woolas

Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman yesterday sparked mutiny in her party over her treatment of expelled MP Phil Woolas. Four Shadow Cabinet ministers and nine backbench MPs slammed Ms Harman after she said the ex-minister’s career was over even if he overturns an election ban. Mr Woolas is appealing after he was thrown out of Parliament for three years for lying about his Lib Dem opponent during the General Election campaign. The MPs told Ms Harman, standing in for leader Ed Miliband who is on paternity leave, she was wrong not to wait for all the legal avenues to be exhausted. One said: “Feelings were running high. There was a general feeling that Phil is one of our own and should be looked after and supported.” Another added: “There is a strong sense of injustice especially when you look at what the Lib Dems have said at elections in the past.” – The Mirror (more…)

By-election put on hold

A by-election to select a new MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth has been put on hold pending the outcome of an attempt by Phil Woolas, who won the seat for Labour in May, to overturn a court decision ruling his election void. John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, said that the courts were attempting to expedite a decision on judicial review to ensure that the constituency was not left without an MP for too long. Woolas’s legal team indicated that they expect a decision by next week, suggesting that the byelection could still go ahead before Christmas. – The Guardian

I can understand why he wants to fight every inch of the way and why he is pursuing his bid for a judicial review in his favour to try to get Friday’s court ruling overturned. But it does seem that even if he were to win an 11th-hour reprieve, the hostile reaction of Harman and others suggests there is no way back for him. There’s no way, it seems, that the Labour leadership will have him as the party’s candidate in a new poll in Oldham East and Saddleworth, whatever the outcome of the legal process. There has, however, already been a backlash from Labour MPs about the way the party leadership has treated Woolas. I’m told that Harriet Harman – acting leader of the party once again while Ed Miliband bonds with the new Mili-baby – got a “mauling” from Labour MPs at Monday evening’s meeting of the PLP. – Sky

Tory MP Edward Leigh and Labour’s David Winnick demanded a Commons debate about the “enormous constitutional issues” raised by the judgment – saying it was for voters to kick out MPs. “It is for the people to evict Members of Parliament, not the judges,” Mr Leigh said. “What worries me about this is, if this is allowed to stand then it will become virtually impossible that there be really robust debate during elections.” Mr Winnick said he feared beaten candidates would in future use “any means” to claim an unfair campaign had been fought. – The Independent

Proud father

Ed Miliband today announced the birth of his second child in a manner that combined traditional parental pride with the style expected of a modern politician: he tweeted it. “Thanks for all the good wishes. He’s gorgeous. Mum and baby doing great,” Miliband declared in well under 140 characters. Later the Labour leader expanded on the gorgeousness by adding: “He looks a bit like me.” Miliband and his partner, environmental barrister Justine Thornton, both 40, were caught by surprise by the speed with which their 8lb 3oz baby arrived at University College Hospital, a 15 minute drive from their north London home, late on Sunday night. “We didn’t know he would come quite as quickly as he did. Justine did absolutely brilliantly,” Miliband said in a brief exchange with reporters outside the hospital. – The Guardian (more…)

IDS under fire over “social zoning”

Large swaths of southern England will become off limits to housing benefit recipients in a little more than a decade because of the government’s proposed plans to cut welfare bills – triggering a huge migration of the poor to the north – according to a study by housing experts. The work, by the Chartered Institute of Housing, shows that before 2025 rents on most two-bedroom properties in the south will become unaffordable to those claiming local housing allowance. Within 15 years, much of London’s commuter belt will become too expensive for the state to pay for the poor to live in. Towns such as Chelmsford, Newbury, Bath and Maidstone would be no-go areas for those on benefits and all of Hertfordshire would be out of bounds. The capital would be unaffordable within a decade. – The Guardian

Dr Rowan Williams said plans to make claimants work or lose benefits were unfair and suggested that cuts to housing benefit could lead to “social zoning” with the poor pushed out of affluent areas […] Dr Williams suggested that the Coalition’s approach to welfare reform risked demonising and demoralising “vulnerable” claimants. “People who are struggling to find work and struggling to find a secure future are, I think, driven further into a downwards spiral of uncertainty, even despair, when the pressure is on in that way,” he said in a radio interview. “It can make people who start feeling vulnerable feel more vulnerable. “People are often in this starting place not because they are wicked or stupid or lazy but because circumstances have been against them. To drive that spiral deeper does seem a great problem.” – The Telegraph

Coulson interviewed by police

David Cameron will face fresh questions over the fate of his communications director Andy Coulson this week, after the Labour Party made it clear it expects the Prime Minister to address the issue directly. Downing Street confirmed over the weekend that Mr Coulson had been interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives about allegations of phone-hacking during his tenure at the News of the World. No 10 said Mr Coulson had attended a meeting with Metropolitan Police officers voluntarily on Thursday and was interviewed as a witness. He was not cautioned or arrested. – The Independent

Labour is keeping up the pressure on David Cameron’s director of communications, Andy Coulson, by asking whether he has had civil service help over claims he denies of complicity in illegal phone hacking while editing the News of the World, it is reported today. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett is to write to Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service, to ask if official time was spent advising Coulson, the Financial Times reports today. A Conservative source told it there was “no intervention” and the question was pointless. Coulson was interviewed by police last week. – The Guardian (more…)