The Tories talk
tough about reducing the benefits bill but the truth is they have caused hundreds
more working people in Solihull to rely on housing benefit to help pay their
bills.
Since David
Cameron became Prime Minister, the number of working people claiming housing benefit has increased by 60%
nationally, costing ordinary British taxpayers an extra £6 billion. In Solihull
alone, the number of working people now claiming housing benefit has increased
by a staggering 47%.
Under the Tories
and Lib Dems, working people are now on average £1600 a year worse off as wages
have fallen while prices have soared. Many people from Solihull in work can’t
get the hours they need while low-paid and insecure work is forcing more people
to rely on housing benefit.
We also face a
massive housing shortage in this country yet this government has presided over
the lowest level of home building since the 1920s.
Labour will take
immediate action by freezing gas and electricity bills until 2017, introducing
a lower 10p starting rate of tax, raising the national minimum wage, offering
more free childcare for working parents, promoting the living wage by offering
firm’s a tax advantage and ending the abuse of zero-hours contracts.
Most importantly
Labour has committed to getting at least 200,000 homes built a year by 2020. Labour
will also reform the private rented sector by banning rip-off letting agent
fees for tenants and introducing long-term stable tenancies with predictable
rents.
