First Minister Alex Salmond used a meeting of leaders from around the UK at Downing Street to condemn the “bedroom tax”.
Mr Salmond said the cut to housing benefit for households deemed to have a spare room was causing “great social misery” and could end up costing the taxpayer money rather than helping to tackle the deficit.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael, attending his first meeting of the joint ministerial council said the talks had been “businesslike and professional” but “there are issues on which we have differences, that’s no great secret”.
The meeting was chaired by David Cameron and attended by Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones and Northern Ireland’s Peter Robinson and his deputy Martin McGuinness.Before the summit, shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran said: “What Scots need tomorrow is action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, not more grandstanding from Alex Salmond and David Cameron.”
But Mr Salmond said: “If Margaret Curran’s asking me to agree with David Cameron on the bedroom tax, she is gravely mistaken.
“The way you deal with the bedroom tax is to persuade the Government that this is a socially iniquitous imposition on people and something that should be reversed.
“If they are not prepared to reverse it now, then it has to be mitigated and to get it mitigated we have to know what the discretionary housing payments are for next year.
“You can’t have meetings where you nod your head when something outrageous like the bedroom tax is being imposed on some of the most vulnerable families in Scotland.”
Mr Carmichael said the talks had been “very positive and constructive” and he was keen to maintain a working relationship with the Scottish Government.
“It shouldn’t be a question of coming to London once a year, I’m keen to keep lines of communication as open and lively as possible,” he said.