Councillor Geoffrey Theobald shows complacency and a lack of care in his letter about the “bedroom tax” (The Argus, April 29), which he says is “helping families in the city”.

Almost half of households in Brighton and Hove hit by the “bedroom tax” are now in arrears, with on average £270 of debt each, totalling more than £90,000 across the city.

Two-thirds of those affected by the Conservative Government’s “bedroom tax” are disabled.

This is a story repeated across the UK, where 13,000,000 people now live below the poverty line, for the first time the majority of them in work. One million people in Britain used food banks in the past year and, as The Argus reported recently, more than 3,000 residents visit a food bank each day in Brighton and Hove, up almost 40% in a year. That is a shocking and shameful statistic.

Four million working families in the UK could not pay their rent or mortgage for more than a month if they lost their job, according to Shelter. This is in today’s Britain – supposedly a wealthy country enjoying an economic recovery. For those struggling with the cost of living, the question is, a recovery for whom?

The stark fact is that there are not enough smaller homes for “over-occupiers” to move to, and the “bedroom tax” is pushing thousands of people, even those in work, into deeper poverty and debt.

I’m proud that Labour will abolish the “bedroom tax” as one of its first acts if elected next year.

Councillor Warren Morgan, leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, Brighton and Hove City Council

Since last April, 660,000 households had to move or find extra cash to cover their rent as a result of the “bedroom tax”.

This is about a third of all working-age housing benefit claimants living in the social rented sector. Disabled people and their families are particularly affected.

Hard-pressed families on the lowest incomes have to find an average of £14 a week out of already stretched budgets to cover the shortfall. Some are unable to pay this shortfall and will risk arrears, eviction and homelessness.

This in fact risks increasing costs for local authorities and undermines social housing.

There is a reason the Conservative Party was once named the Nasty Party.

Michael Inkpin-Leissner, Labour candidate for Hollingdean and Stanmer ward