A political party focused on abolishing the ‘bedroom tax’ is planning to put forward its first Holyrood candidate in the Dunfermline by-election.
No Bedroom Tax No Welfare Cuts are seeking activists to stand for election when the vote to replace Bill Walker takes place.
Former Labour councillor John Flanagan, a solicitor who will stand for the party in the Glasgow City Council Govan by-election, told The Courier he thought votes could be won from the SNP and Labour in Dunfermline.
The date of the by-election was today confirmed as October 24.
Mr Flanagan said: “We know the bedroom tax is a big issue for a lot of people and universal credit is going to have an even bigger impact.
“We want to rally people together to fight. We are quite pleased with the tribunal judgment in Fife, which is going to have an impact on people across Scotland.”
Mr Flanagan said not enough was being done by the major parties to alleviate the impact of the spare room subsidy curb the SNP has said it would abolish it within a year of independence and Labour has set out a £50 million plan which would see its effects mitigated in Scotland if adopted by the Scottish Government.
Both parties have said councils they run will not evict anyone who “genuinely” falls behind on their rent because of the changes.
No Bedroom Tax No Welfare Cuts is also campaigning to have Atos Healthcare, which has been contracted by the UK Government to carry out benefits tests, removed as sponsors of next year’s Commonwealth Games.