NOW that the dust has settled following the Budget and people begin to realise that everything is not as rosy as they first thought, they are about to be hit by another broadside from Downing Street.

A Green Paper, to be published before the end of the year, will outline the Government's intentions to abolish housing benefit and introduce council rents at market rates and choice in allocation of homes, as well as insisting that all tenants pay towards the cost of their accommodation.

This is designed so that all tenants will be expected to contribute to their homes - great if you're on more than £100,000 a year - giving them self-interest in their own wellbeing.

This policy is intended to persuade council and housing association tenants to move out of properties which are too big for their needs, but will not take into account the fact that people have spent a lifetime in these homes and that people in later life are totally against uprooting and leaving behind years of happy memories.

There is a plan to restructure social housing rents, which are traditionally lower than the private sector, so as to take into account the cost of depreciation and repairs. This policy will lead to market rents being charged for social housing for the first time, putting more emphasis on social engineering.

Proposals such as these make a total mockery of claimed lower taxation. Once again, it is the most vulnerable in our society who will suffer, especially the elderly and disabled.

JOHN FARRER, Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle.

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