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 Cameron: Housing benefits got 'completely out of control' under Labour
David Cameron told MPs today it was an "outrage" that a family was able to claim £2,000 a week in benefits to live in a luxury townhouse. He said housing benefits had got "completely out of control" under Labour but the new Government would impose a cap next year. At Prime Minister's Questions he said many people would regard the new £400-a-week limit as "very, very generous". It was reported last week that Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in Kensington, central London, at a cost of £8,000 a month. The issue was raised by Tory Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon), who asked Mr Cameron: "Do you agree that Mr Nur and his family, who have moved into a £2,000-a-week house at the taxpayers' expense in Kensington, is exactly the sort of thing the coalition was elected to fight against?" The Prime Minister said: "The housing benefit situation, particularly in central London, has got completely out of control. "The idea that a family should be able to claim £2,000 a week for their house I think is an outrage for people who go to work every day, pay their taxes and try and do the right thing for their family. "That is why we will cap housing benefit levels from April next year so the maximum that can be claimed will be £400 a week for a property with more than four bedrooms. "Even £400 a week, many people on ordinary incomes will look at that and find that very, very generous for how we help people, and every penny of that comes out of hard-earned taxes." The changes were announced in last month's Budget, when Chancellor George Osborne told MPs the cost of housing benefit had risen from £14 billion 10 years ago to £21 billion today - more than was spent on the police and on universities combined. Source: 24dash.com Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. |
