The UK Government should abandon its plan to introduce a bedroom tax, Scotland’s Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess said.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith, Mrs Burgess urged for the policy to be scrapped, but added that if the UK Government was to proceed with implementing the policy, it must provide full details on how those with a disability will be protected.

New Scottish Government analysis released earlier this week showed that eight out of ten households in Scotland set to be hit by the tax include an adult with a recognised disability.

The letter also questions whether the policy will have any impact on overcrowding – a claim increasingly made by the UK Government.

Ms Burgess said: "It is completely unacceptable that vulnerable people in Scotland should bear the brunt of this ill-considered and damaging tax.

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"Our clear position is that this punitive and unfair policy should be scrapped. However the UK Government seems determined to press ahead, and the current constitutional arrangements mean there is nothing we can do to stop them.

"The UK Government has said it will 'look again' at the impact of the bedroom tax on disabled people and that it will offer ‘more flexibility’ around the bedroom tax. But this is still not good enough – specific details have to be given as a matter of urgency.

"It is deeply worrying that with only two months to go until the policy is implemented, the UK Government only now seem to be waking up to its potentially damaging and disproportionate effect on disabled people.

"And the increasing justification that the policy is all about reducing overcrowding simply does not stand up to scrutiny. For a start it is disproportionate, with a much smaller number of people living in overcrowded homes than will be hit by the tax. And second, it assumes that geography is no issue and people can simply swap houses.

"And this is not just about one group – a whole range of people, including foster parents, single parents who live away from their children and members of our armed forces are all likely to be hit.

"Unfortunately, this goes to demonstrate that Scotland cannot possibly mitigate the impact of all the UK Government’s unfair welfare cuts. It is only with the powers of an independent Scottish Parliament that we can ensure that unfair welfare reforms like the bedroom tax would never see the light of day."

(GK)