the government would face a fight from MPs in a Commons vote on its proposal to dock housing benefit from antisocial tenants.
A Housing Today straw poll asked 37 MPs whether they backed the proposal, which is now out for consultation (HT 23 May, page 9).

Of the 19 Labour MPs who replied, seven were for the measure, eight were against and a further four were undecided.

Most of the Conservatives voted in favour of the measure and most Liberal Democrats voted against.

When broken down by region, opinions were evenly split between yes and no, although MPs in the South-east provided the largest numbers of replies.

Most opponents of the measure said it would penalise other members of the family, especially children, as well as the antisocial member. Others said the measure was a roundabout route to eviction.

Steve Pound, Labour MP for Ealing North in west London, said: "All we need to do is properly enforce tenancy conditions. I'm more interested in prevention than penalties and hope that these proposals will slither back to the think tankers who begat them."

Annabel Ewing, Scottish National Party MP for Perth, said: "How's it going to be enforced? I think the government needs to do more work."

The "yes" voters felt that tenants who received taxpayers' money should be obliged to behave well.

Tony McWalter, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, said: "The allocation of housing resources has become very unjust and the reciprocity of rights and responsibilities needs to be recognised in this field as in others."

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Housing Today