Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Brighton Pavilion, Purna Sen, seems to have developed selective amnesia over what she terms the “bedroom tax” – more accurately the Spare Room Subsidy (Letters, April 23).

I should remind her that it was the previous Labour government in 2008 which abolished the Spare Room Subsidy for housing benefit claimants in privately-rented properties.

Given that Brighton and Hove has one of the largest private rented sectors in the country, why has she not been campaigning against this change and why is Ed Miliband not pledging to reverse what his party introduced in government?

The Spare Room Subsidy was abolished by the Government in order to try to tackle the chronic problem of high waiting lists and overcrowding in social housing, presumably similar reasons why the previous Labour Government abolished it for the private rented sector.

Nationally, nearly one-third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefits are living in accommodation too big for their needs. That equates to nearly a million spare rooms that could potentially be available to thousands of families who are currently not adequately housed.

We have to make much better use of the council’s existing stock as well as building more new housing. The Spare Room Subsidy policy is already helping families in the city. Since it was introduced last year, 200 households have moved into more suitably-sized accommodation, freeing up larger homes for families.

This represents a 10% increase on the previous year. Labour should be welcoming this rather than constantly criticising without offering any positive practical solutions.

Councillor Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the Conservative Group on Brighton and Hove City Council