A Labour motion to abolish the 'bedroom tax' has been defeated by only 26 votes in the House of Commons.

While two Liberal Democrat MPs joined the Opposition in voting for an end to the policy, the motion was defeated by 252 to 226 votes last night.

Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith came under fire for showing ‘callous disregard’ for those affected by the policy, after he missed the debate to attend a conference on youth unemployment in Paris.

Lib Dem MP, Andrew George, labelled the ‘bedroom tax’ ‘immoral’ and ‘Dickensian in its social divisiveness’.

The spare-room subsidy - or ‘bedroom tax’ - reduces housing benefit paid to social housing tenants by 14% for those deemed to have one spare bedroom and 25% for claimants with two.

In the debate, shadow work and pensions secretary, Rachel Reeves, said: ‘I have heard heart-rending testimony about the tax.

‘I have heard about a man who received worrying letters about rent arrears while in hospital for a triple heart bypass because he suddenly had to find another £18 a week to keep the specially adapted home he had lived in for most of his life.

‘In so many cases, local authorities and housing associations are put in impossible situations, trying to minimise the impact of this badly designed policy on local people.’

Liberal Democrat pensions minister, Steve Webb, who was standing in for Iain Duncan Smith, said the working-age welfare budget had to be addressed yet acknowledged his party’s call for a review.

‘The Government have given local authorities the money to help people in need,’ Webb said.

‘We have allocated an extra £20m for local authorities to bid for. If they have exhausted, or if they anticipate exhausting, their discretionary housing payments budgets, they can come to the Government for a top-up.

‘So far, barely a dozen local authorities have asked for additional funding.’