MORE WORKING PEOPLE IN DERBY NEED HOUSING BENEFIT TO HELP MEET RENT SINCE THIS GOVT CAME TO POWER

THE Tories talk tough about reducing the benefits bill but the truth is they’ve failed to get to grips with the problem. In fact, their cost-of-living crisis has now left hundreds of working people in Derby relying on housing benefit to help pay their bills.

Since David Cameron became Prime Minister, the number of working people claiming housing benefit in Derby has increased by a staggering 55 per cent.

Working people are now on average £1600 a year worse off as wages have fallen while prices have soared. Many people in work can’t get the hours they need while low-paid and insecure work is forcing more people to rely on housing benefit.

We also face a massive housing shortage in this country yet this government has presided over the lowest level of home building since the 1920s. David Cameron's failure to tackle this shortage means the cost of housing is rising beyond the reach of ordinary working people.

It can’t be right that ordinary people who do the right thing and go to work have to rely on housing benefit. The Tory-led government is either unwilling or unable to do anything about this and David Cameron seems content to let the British taxpayer pick up the bill.

Labour intends to take immediate action to deal with the cost-of-living crisis by freezing gas and electricity bills until 2017 if we win the election. And we’ll make work pay by introducing a lower 10p starting rate of tax, raising the national minimum wage and ending the abuse of zero-hours contracts.

But you can't deal with the cost-of-living crisis without building more homes. That's why Labour has committed to getting at least 200,000 homes built a year by 2020. We’ll also reform the private rented sector by banning rip-off letting agent fees for tenants and introducing long-term stable tenancies with predictable rents.

The increased number of working people claiming housing benefit shows you can’t trust the Tories or their Lib Dem collaborators to solve the cost-of-living crisis. Only Labour has the policies and the determination to stand up and make a real difference.