THE managing director of Worcester City Council is being forced to write to the Government to call for the bedroom tax to be suspended.

Duncan Sharkey is being compelled to send Iain Duncan Smith a letter outlining the authority’s concerns following a fierce debate last night.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Green Party politicians all teamed up to approve a motion condemning the controversial tax, which is coming into force from Monday.

The policy will see 804 of the poorest families in Worcester penalised for having spare bedrooms by having their housing benefits slashed.

Under the ruling, tenants in council or housing association properties will lose 14 per cent of their benefit if they have one spare room, or 25 per cent for two.

Those families will have to pay the difference to stay in their homes, which is why it has been dubbed the 'bedroom tax'.

The Government, which calls it the 'spare room subsidy', says it will free up more multiple-bed properties for families desperate to get a suitable home.

Figures also estimate it could save upwards of £500 million from a housing benefits bill topping £23 billion.

 Councillor Joy Squires, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Worcester, called it “abhorrent” and “shocking” during a tirade at the Guildhall.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, the ruling Conservatives’ deputy leader, hit back by calling her a “cut-and-paste candidate” who was copying other Labour politicians around the country.

His remarks were later described as a “personal insult” to Coun Squires by Labour’s Jo Hodges.

Coun Squires said: “The bedroom tax is wrong on so many levels, it’s difficult to know where to start.

"There is no surplus of properties, some people will be forced to live in the private rented sector because they can't pay.

"Families will be forced to move, children will be forced to change school, inevitably there will be rent arrears.

“The strains, stresses and poverty which will be imposed on people will be quite shocking - this is a tax too far.

“It’s a policy which will not set out what it sets out to achieve, it will cause untold misery and I hope even at this eleventh hour, we can get it abandoned.”

She said it will "lead to disaster" unless the Government decides to scrap it.

During the debate Councillor Geoff Williams, who sits on the board of Worcester Community Housing, revealed 500 of the group’s tenants are set to be affected but only 200 of those have indicated they can afford to pay the difference.

"It could lead to increasing arrears, evictions and homelessness," he said.

In response, Tory Councillor David Tibbutt said the policy was about "fairness."

"There are one million spare bedrooms in the social rented sector," he said.

"There is clearly an imbalance, and it's not fair. How many people in this chamber have downsized into a smaller home? I know I certainly have."

Labour Councillor Richard Udall hit back by saying: "We've seen the consequences, the despair and the pain this is causing.

"I've not seen so much anger since the last nasty little Tory tax, the poll tax.

"It will not free up larger properties for people, it's an injustice, it judges people on what they can pay, it is not what a decent society should be doing to the most vulnerable members of society."

Fellow Labour Councillor Paul Denham, Labour's deputy leader, said it should be "scrapped in its entirety", adding it will hit the "very poor".

Others said the fact the Government recently changed the policy so armed forces personnel and foster carers were exempt, was evidence of poor thinking.

Councillor Liz Smith, leader of the city’s Lib Dems, said: “We should remember it is a benefit, and that it was never intended to be an open ended one.

"But the fact the Government altered the policy to those significantly affected people shows they did not think it through in the first place.

There is going to be a very large number of unforeseen consequences from it - nobody should be denied the right to have a spare room if that’s the position they find themselves in.”

Coun Bayliss accused the Labour politicians of “scaremongering” and said the Government was aiming to save £600 million with the policy.

“This is a cut-and-paste motion which Labour has used in four other councils - it’s manufactured, a cut-and-paste motion from a cut-and-paste candidate,” he said.

"The mover of this motion should be ashamed at her scaremongering, and the fact she is taking up the council's time with this.

"We cannot get away from the fundamental reality of the deficit and a growing debt.

"This is one of those tough choices although it is not without pain, I grant you.

"Where is the alternative proposal to fill a £600m blackhole if this does not go ahead?"

Coun Udall shouted "tax the millionaires", to which Coun Bayliss said that would claw back just £100 million.

All of the Conservatives, apart from the abstaining Aubrey Tarbuck, voted against the motion but Labour, Lib Dem and Green Party votes swung it 17-16.

It means Mr Sharkey will have to write to the Government asking for the tax to be suspended.

The motion also requests Conservative Councillor Jabba Riaz, the cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, to write to Worcester MP Robin Walker to outline the authority's concerns and ask him to lobby for a suspension, although he is not obliged to do so.  

* Saturday's Worcester News is carrying special coverage of how the bedroom tax is set to hit the county.