Meacher attacks unfair cuts

LABOUR MP Michael Meacher has hit out at the coalition Government over the impact housing benefit cuts will have on Oldham’s poorest pensioners.

The Oldham West and Royton MP said he was shocked to discover just what the decrease in payments will mean for many Oldhamers.

He said: “These cuts will fall hardest on the severely disabled, who will lose an average £676 per year and some of the poorest pensioners who will lose £572 per year.”

The angered MP argues that over 4000 disabled people, pensioners and families in private rented accommodation will have their benefits slashed by between £6 and £25 per week.

He expects figures for the socially-rented sector to affect a further 8,000 homes when they are released.

He said: “It is simply outrageous that, as a number of independent studies have shown, the poorest families will lose five times as much as the richest.

“This shows that the Tory/ Lib-Dem claims about ‘fairness’ are completely false and that far from being ‘all in it together’ their cuts are hitting the poorest hardest.”