• John Hayes replaced as energy minister in mini reshuffle
• Lunchtime summary
• Afternoon summary
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Andrew Sparrow
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 March 2013 15.50 GMT
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John Hayes has been moved from energy minister in a mini reshuffle. Photograph: Mark Makela Sort by:
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9.10am GMT
Westminster is sliding into holiday mode. The Commons and the Lords are now in recess, the government news grid is starting to look very thin and the Easter bank holiday weekend is almost here. In conventional news terms, it’s pretty bleak.
But actually, beneath the headlines, some big stuff is happening. A raft of benefit cuts are going to come into force next week and, collectively, they are going to make millions of people poorer.
There are two developments today that highlight some of these changes.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report saying that 2.m low-income families will pay on average £138 more in council tax next year as a result of the way council tax benefit is being cut. Here’s an extract from its news release.
The findings from the New Policy Institute (NPI) are the first, full assessment of Council Tax Benefit (CTB) reform. From next Monday (April 1), CTB will be abolished and replaced by Council Tax Support.
England’s 326 local councils have had to devise their own local CTS schemes, but with 10% less funding. Pensioners are protected - meaning larger proportional cuts are passed onto working-age recipients.
Fifty-eight councils have decided on schemes that will retain current levels of support for families, but the majority (232) will demand council tax from everyone regardless of income. In-work families will pay £132 more on average compared to £140 for those not working.
150,000 families will pay on average £300 more a year; one million will pay less than £100 on average. 1.9 million claimants who currently do not pay any council tax will have to start paying on average £140 per year.
There is a detailed summary of the findings here (pdf).
And, in the Independent, the Labour former welfare minister Frank Field has been speaking out about the bedroom cuts. He is calling for direct action.
Mr Field said he had never witnessed a measure as “grossly unfair” as the bedroom tax in his 30 years of dealing with welfare reforms as the MP for Birkenhead.
He said: “I feel so strongly about what the Government are doing to my constituents and similarly placed constituents around the country that I call on both social housing and housing association landlords to defy the measures, not by not operating them, but by doing what landlords did after the Nine Years’ War, when a Government similarly stretched for money imposed a window tax.
“In many instances – we see it in older properties in our constituencies – landlords bricked up windows. I hope landlords will brick up the doors to spare bedrooms and, where appropriate, knock down the walls, so that the properties can safely fit the tenants. I have never before asked for direct action. I do so now because I feel the measures are grossly unfair.”
Throughout the day I will be reporting more on reaction to next week’s benefit cuts.
Here’s the agenda for the day.
9am: Nick Clegg takes part in his LBC phone-in.
10am: The London assembly questions Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan police commissioner.
At some point today Ed Davey, the energy secretary, Vince Cable, the business secretary, and Michael Moore, the Scottish secretary, are publishing an oil and gas sector strategy.
As usual, I’ll also be covering all the breaking political news as well as looking at the papers and bringing you the best politics from the web. I’ll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and another in the afternoon.
