Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg hinted on Friday that Westminster might agree to a Scottish government request that would effectively halt the hated bedroom tax north of the border.

Massive community, trade union and opposition party campaigning pushed Holyrood ministers to ask for the cap on discretionary payments — which councils use to support tens of thousands of affected tenants — to be lifted.

Mr Clegg told the Scottish Lib Dem conference in Aberdeen: “There is this limit — a cap in effect — on what councils can use which I think needs to be addressed, and we will be making an announcement about that shortly.”

He appeared to back a Lib Dem U-turn from Scottish party leader William Rennie earlier in the day.

Mr Rennie said he understood the principle behind the “spare room subsidy” but didn’t think it was working so it “should just go — and it should go quickly.”