DOZENS of people turned out to protest against the Government’s controversial bedroom tax.
Residents demonstrated their strength of feeling outside Hartlepool Civic Centre and called for the legislation to be axed.
A petition with more than 1,000 signatures was handed to Hartlepool MP Iain Wright who will hand it over in Parliament next week.
The MP told the Mail: “People have a good compass about what is fair and what isn’t, this tax on the poor and vulnerable is extremely unfair.”
This morning’s protest was organised by staff at Manor Residents’ Association, who also launched the petition.
Angie Wilcox, a Labour councillor for the Manor House ward and manager of the Manor Residents’ Association, said: “The turn-out was good.
“People do feel extremely passionately about this, that has been made clear with the petition and now the protest.”
From April 1, more than 1,500 people in Hartlepool are set to be hit by the Government’s plans to tackle “under-occupancy.”
Social housing tenants in employment and those in receipt of housing benefit will have their benefits slashed by around £13 a week if they are deemed to have one spare bedroom or £22 for two bedrooms.
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