The SLF has always supported radical decentralisation. Indeed, it is a central pillar of Reinventing the State, which is in many ways our founding document.

I don’t believe we have ever written anything about housing benefit. If people are receiving upwards of £2k a month housing benefit, they are likely to be very small in number (it certainly represents more than my annual income). Perhaps you could source your claims?

For instance we need a radical shift of power to the regions and to shift all of whitehall and Parliament out of London. That way there wouldn’t be the huge rents required. Although I agree with the non-doms that is only one part of the equation.

Do you really think it’s right for someone on JSA to be told `choose a property up to 2000 a month` – there is no problem getting a job in London compared to other places and all that does is ensure it’s cheaper for someone not to work than to work.

The people who are having it cushy are the non-doms who seem to be able to live here and even sit in Parliament without paying more that a tiny amount of tax. Given the appalling mal-distribution of wealth and income in our country – the true answer to defecit reduction lies in making sure the rich actually pay tax like the rest of us.

However with politics dominated by the very same people – we can’t expect much from any of the parties.