The government has been branded “clueless” as to the effects of the so-called bedroom tax in the East End.

Critics claim more the 4,500 households in Tower Hamlets are affected by the policy, which sees people’s housing benefit cut if they have spare rooms in their homes.

Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali raised the question of where those affected could move in a question in Parliament recently.

But work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the information was not available.

“Thousands of families across the borough are being hammered with the ‘bedroom tax’ yet the government is clueless as to how they are expected to cope and where they are expected to move to”, said Ms Ali.

Many of the households affected by the tax are likely to have to downsize in coming months, critics have warned.