Green Party controlled Brighton city council has confirmed it will refuse to evict those who cannot afford to pay the ‘bedroom tax’. The council is the first in the UK England* to take such a position.

Green Councillor Liz Wakefield said: “As Greens, we cannot throw people out onto the streets just because they’re unable to pay it. I will therefore be bringing proposals that seek to ensure no household will be evicted from a Brighton and Hove City Council owned home as a result of ‘spare room subsidy’ rent arrears accrued solely from that household’s inability to pay this unjust bedroom tax.

Last month, Edinburgh Green party councillors proposed the same measure there. In that case, the city council agreed to investigate the possibility, and will decide on the matter in the coming weeks.

The Green Party campaigning against the bedroom tax

*UPDATE: it turns out the SNP got there first by a few days, in Dundee.