THE so-called “bedroom” tax was introduced to recoup an estimated £500m lost to the Treasury through changes in how bonuses to bankers are to be taxed.

It is part of an agenda which holds that providing benefits hinders growth, but tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires promotes prosperity. It is just a revamp of the failed Thatcherite belief that making the poor poorer to make the rich richer will somehow cause a drip-down effect which will benefit the poor.

However, the creation and perpetuation of lies about those on benefits has turned the most vulnerable into scapegoats, setting people against each other which allows for the introduction of more austere policies.

Increasing numbers of people living on benefits, unemployed, homeless, going hungry and committing suicide isn’t because of a lifestyle choice. It’s the result of decades of greedy, selfserving and incompetent political, business and banking leaders destroying jobs, industries, the economy and the future of millions.

CT Riley, Spennymoor.