Ed Miliband urges Lib-Dem revolt on housing benefit
Labour leader Ed Miliband called on disgruntled Liberal Democrats today to help him block coalition plans to cut housing benefit.
He said he wanted to force a Commons vote on the issue and exploit Lib Dem divisions to defeat the Government.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Mr Miliband urged Lib Dem MPs to defy their leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to "vote with their consciences".
"They are honourable people. They are in politics for the right reasons. I hope they will vote with their consciences when it comes to issues like housing benefit," he said.
His comments came after David Cameron made clear he intended to press ahead with the cuts despite warnings they would force hundreds of thousands of poor people out of big cities.
He insisted it was not fair that claimants lived in properties many hard-working families could only "dream of".
But Mr Miliband said: "They are cutting the housing benefit of poor people in an unjustified way, they are going to potentially make people lose their homes.
"That is not what they came into politics for. I hope they will vote with their consciences."
Urban MPs from across the parties have also voiced concerns over the moves, which include a £400-a-week housing benefit cap for four-bedroom homes and a 10% reduction for the long-term unemployed.
Mr Cameron stressed yesterday that the cap would still leave claimants able to receive around £20,000 a year for housing.
He insisted that, although the welfare reforms were difficult, they were needed to protect other areas of spending such as the schools and NHS from austerity cuts.
The Government estimates that 21,000 households will be affected by the cap on different size homes - 17,000 of them in London.
But more than 750,000 claimants could be affected by changes to the way Local Housing Allowance levels are calculated.
Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant claims that around 200,000 people could be driven out of areas with high rents as a result of the changes.
The housing benefit cap will come into force next April, tougher limits on Local Housing Allowance next October, and the 10% cut for long-term unemployed in 2013.
