by Tommy Sheridan
This meeting recognises the acute unfairness of the ConDem government Bedroom Tax proposal to withdraw Housing Benefit from thousands of poor and disabled households as part of their Welfare Reform Act and the general assault on wages, living standards and public services unleashed by this entirely unrepresentative government which includes 23 millionaires in its Cabinet of 29 members.
We pledge to fight the ConDem Bedroom Tax through all means possible and necessary and seek to unite community and other anti-Bedroom Tax campaigns into a West of Scotland federation of opposition leading eventually to an all Scotland campaign of opposition.
This meeting further recognises that withdrawal of housing benefit from families in the social housing sector will exert intolerable financial pressure on already hard pushed households and could lead to threatened evictions for Bedroom Tax arrears. We commit ourselves to oppose Bedroom Tax evictions as a central plank of our campaign and will seek to politically and physically oppose any such evictions.
This meeting declares the formation of an interim West of Scotland Anti-Bedroom Tax committee with specific short term aims and goals;
• To organise, highlight and promote a major march and demonstration of opposition to the Bedroom Tax on Saturday 30th March in Glasgow and assembling in George Square
• To encourage, support and organise anti-Bedroom Tax public meetings and events across West Scotland and an all Scotland Conference against the Bedroom Tax in April or May
• To specifically lobby ConDem Government Minister Ian Duncan Smith when he addresses the Welfare Reform Scotland conference in Edinburgh’s George hotel on Wednesday 27th March
• To produce material highlighting the inequity of the Bedroom Tax and the associated austerity measures introduced by the ConDem government and demanding abolition of the Bedroom Tax, resistance to Bedroom Tax evictions and support for a radical social house building programme to improve the quality and supply of homes in the social rented sector and create thousands of much needed jobs
• To promote support for the Govan Law Centre petition calling on the SNP government to amend the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 to treat Bedroom Tax arrears as ordinary debt thus avoiding evictions and to lobby the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee on Tuesday 16th April in support of that petition
This meeting agrees to form an interim committee of no less than 15 members to oversee the implementation of the above aims and goals and the election of an interim secretary, chairperson and treasurer to coordinate and promote the committees activities up to the conference in April or May.
UPDATE:
Great meeting tonight. Over 100 people attended the Anti-Bedroom Tax meeting in the Glasgow UNISON office and voted unanimously to establish the West of Scotland interim organising committee to coordinate the 30th March demo in Glasgow and an all Scotland conference in April or May. The motion voted on tonight committed the interim West of Scotland body to abolition of the Bedroom Tax and opposition to Bedroom Tax evictions by all means necessary. We will also lobby the prince of darkness and senior political nugget, Iain Duncan Smith, at the George hotel in Edinburgh on March 27th when he addresses a Welfare Reform conference. There were some excellent contributions and I was humbled to be elected the interim secretary of the West of Scotland organising committee. The message of the evening was conveyed by a woman called Fiona from Govanhill who movingly stated in relation to the threat of bedroom tax evictions “I’ll stand with you if you stand with me”. Inspiring. Get involved in the campaign of opposition to this cruel and callous attack on the poor and disabled.
The post Bin the Bedroom Tax Campaign Launched in Glasgow appeared on Socialist Unity.