The Point

Last updated: 27 June 2022.

Organise to Beat the Bedroom Tax

Sean Robertson works in the Electricity Transmission sector as a construction worker and lives in the highlands with his wife and son. He has been fundamental in setting up a local Anti-Bedroom Tax group. In this article Sean looks at strategies and ideas for setting up local campaigns.

 

The Bedroom has the potential to unite the working class in a similar vein to earlier campaigns such as the poll tax. While the tax doesn’t affect everyone, as was the case with the poll tax campaign in the early nineties, the effects of the current policy could be worse as the government deliberately targets the most vulnerable members of society: the disabled, sick, single mothers and the poor, plunging these groups ever deeper into poverty.

 

Campaigners have been aware of the damage this policy will cause to communities for some time and have been organising to defend the homes of affected people and families, providing solidarity and carrying out direct action to try to pressurise politicians and government to cancel the cuts all together or (use the powers they have to mitigate their effects, in the case of the Scottish Government).

The bulk of the Bedroom Tax campaign groups active in Scotland have united to form the Scottish Anti Bedroom Tax Federation. At the federation’s first national conference, Tommy Sheridan was unanimously elected as national chair and Luke Ivory, a Socialist Party Scotland activist, was elected to the post of secretary.

How to set up a local campaign group.

Looking at the example of the Highlands, where I started the Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation affiliated group, Highlands No to Bedroom Tax, several strategies were and are being used to get the ball rolling.

1. Hold an ‘establishing meeting’.

Invite groups with a vested interest in ending the Bedroom Tax to attend, such as housing charities, progressive political groups and trade unions. Trade unions in particular have been uniting and organising around the issue of cuts and have been more than forthcoming in terms of resources; they have made large financial donations, and one union, Unison, have provided a meeting room free of charge to the group.

Obviously, it’s vitally important to have as many people who are directly affected by the policy as possible in attendance at the establishing meeting. We held regular street stalls on high streets of major towns in the region to make people aware of our intention to form a group. We were overwhelmed by the response from ordinary people, garnering hundreds of contacts who were either affected themselves or could see the apparent gross injustice inherent in the policy. We also advertised the meeting in the media via press releases and letters to the editors of local papers.

Simultaneous to the establishing meeting, we set up an open Facebook group, Highlands NO2BT Axe the Bedroom Tax, which has proven a boon when it comes to advertising events or disseminating information to activists, particularly in a region as large and sparsely populated as the Highlands.

The meeting was well attended, with groups as diverse as the Anarchist’s Federation, SNP councillors, health professionals, Student’s Associations and Socialists as well as those directly affected signing up to participate.

2. Build towards imaginative campaign focussing events.

What can you do to both highlight your campaign and raise your group’s profile in the community? Highlands NO2BT have lobbied the SNP’s annual conference which was held in Inverness, as well as organising a large public rally in the city centre. By virtue of having a big name speaker, Tommy Sheridan, the rally generated a large amount of media interest both in the newspapers and on local radio. Perhaps more importantly, as a group we leafleted 5000 houses in the build- up to the event which meant that our profile and aims were spread throughout the region; as well as advertising the public rally, the leaflets contained a mini manifesto stating the group’s cause and aims and provided contact details such as phone numbers emails and the Facebook group address.

3. Hold community meetings.

In order to connect with local victims of the tax, and to perhaps produce grassroots activists, we undertook to hold community meetings throughout the region. These are being held in community halls or spaces in local areas but could conceivably be held anywhere including your own front room if funds are prohibitive. Areas with high social housing density are selected and leaflets and posters advertising the meeting and providing contact details for the group are distributed up to four days prior to the meeting.

Through trial and error, we have learned that to attract the largest possible number of attendees it is best to hold meetings through the week as people have other plans on Fridays and at weekends. If possible, also make children welcome to allow single parents and families with young children to participate.

In order for the meeting to be productive, it is useful to read up on the council’s or housing associations’ policy with regard to the Bedroom Tax. For example, SNP-controlled councils have pledged not to evict tenants for Bedroom Tax-related rent arrears for a period of one year. To clarify their positions, we have written to the council and all local housing associations. In our region,all of the associations have refused to commit to a no-eviction policy.

Having some simple advice for people coming to the meeting regarding their legal rights is also helpful and makes it obvious that you are on their side. This advice is available from trade unions, the federation and organisations like the Govan Law Centre.

Also, there has to be a path forward for the local campaign subsequent to the community meetings. Think of imaginative protests or actions the group could take in a particular area. This could include leafleting and mass attendance at MP or MSP surgeries or protesting at the offices of local housing associations in the weeks following the meeting. Further, make the meeting aware of the national movement. The federation holds regular demonstrations and rallies which your group could organise to travel to in pooled transport. Take contact details to keep people up to speed with the campaign and invite all contacts to monthly planning meetings and any planned protests.

Ask those present to sign a petition of your group’s demands as their first act of protest, directed at government, local government and housing associations.

4. Act in the present, plan for the future.

During the Poll Tax struggle the strategy of mass non- payment was adopted and proved pivotal in the campaign’s success. Given that not everyone is paying the Bedroom Tax, this tactic cannot justifiably be advocated in this instance. Practical advice that could conceivably be given to Bedroom Tax debtors would be to try to pay the extra money if at all possible, although this will obviously become harder and harder to achieve with the passage of time; people claiming housing benefit are granted this allowance because they have proven to the state that they are too poor to be able to afford accommodation costs. This is why the Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation has adopted a policy of ‘can’t pay, will stay’, by which is meant if you can’t pay, fight tooth and nail by every legal means possible, to keep the roof over your head. Tenants should be advised to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment. While the funds for these are extremely limited, the fact that a tenant has applied for the support can be used to show, in court proceedings for example, that they have made every reasonable attempt to pay given their circumstances. Legal advice can also be sought from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, councillors, MSPs and other representatives. Housing benefit recipients should also be entitled to legal aid in court.

When all else fails we will have to be prepared to physically prevent sheriff’s officers from carrying out evictions by defending homes with a human barrier at the entrance to properties in much the same way as seen during the warrant sales of the Poll Tax era. Groups should identify individuals willing to join the ‘Anti Eviction Army’ to be ready when the time comes and a phone number should be given out for use as a ‘hotline’, a first point of contact in the event of evictions.

5. Link the Bedroom Tax to the wider struggle against capitalism.

As socialists, we know that the Bedroom Tax has nothing to do with solving the debt crisis or fixing chronic social housing shortages. All of the ills seen in society today- poverty, mass youth unemployment, environmental degradation and financial crises- have one root cause: capitalism. The Bedroom Tax is just another of a long line of attacks made by the ruling class on the gains made by the working class struggles of the past.

In all your activities, literature and press releases, make this fact clear, and also highlight the fact that none of the mainstream parties are able or willing to represent our needs or desires; in fact all profess the righteousness of the current system!

The need for proper, united representation of our class and the formation of a mass working class party has never been more pressing. Campaigns such as the Bedroom Tax fight could very easily prove to be the vehicle needed to once more united the progressive forces in Scotland; united we could fight for a world where the needs and desires of the many are prioritised before the greed and private profit of the few. A world in which our children could realise their potential and poverty could be seen only in history books, rather than the situation today when we have to fight just to keep the roof over our heads.