A Birmingham MP has been called ‘misguided’ over his ‘idiotic’ suggestion that social housing tenants should get a lodger to avoid paying the bedroom tax. 

Lib Dem MP for Yardley John Hemming suggested that with few one-bedroom properties available in the city, tenants would do better to take someone in.

But Labour Councillor Jess Phillips, who is set to challenge Mr Hemming for the Yardley seat in 2015, said: “The cruel and idiotic suggestion made by John Hemming that tenants should take in a lodger to help them pay the rent shows a complete lack of understanding of real people’s lives.

“Shall I tell the domestic violence victim and her children who needs to stay in her home which has been specially fitted with safety equipment to invite a complete stranger into her life, or the father with an autistic son who keeps his second child awake screaming in the night to put his children in a room together.”