SDLP say it's important people know 'the facts' on bedroom tax as worry and confusion continues

SDLP Councillor Brian Tierney has said that it is important that the facts about the bedroom tax are made known to people who are worried about its implementation in Derry and across the North. Councillor Tierney said: "In the last couple of weeks, as letters about the bedroom tax have been going through doors in Derry, there have been plenty of claims and accusations.

"Many of those claims have been wrong and many of them have been used deliberately as a distraction to cover from damaging political decisions taken by the Executive. "Rather than a ‘tit for tat’ battle with Sinn Féin on this issue though I think it would be far more helpful if the facts of the bedroom tax were explained to people. People who are worried about the bedroom tax deserve to know these facts. • The bedroom tax is a Tory policy being implemented at Westminster.

• It would force people to move house or to pay an extra bill.

• Both Sinn Féin and the DUP voted to bring it to the North.

• The SDLP opposed this in both the Assembly and at Westminster.

• Mitigations have been put in place for 3 years in the North.

• There is no guarantee that these protections will stay beyond 2020.’

"A vote for the SDLP at this election is a vote to stop the bedroom tax ever being implemented in the North. We opposed it when it was first proposed and we will always oppose it. "The answer to the housing crisis is not the bedroom tax. The answer is to build more social and affordable housing so that people can have the security and dignity of a home. The fact is that we haven’t been building enough houses for a long time. "If elected on March 2nd that is exactly what the new team SDLP at the Assembly will begin to do."