Row over London council plans to move out poor families

A London council has said it can no longer afford to provide social housing for some of its poorest residents.

Newham Council, in the east of the city, has approached housing associations across the United Kingdom - including Stoke-on-Trent some 160 miles away - to ask if they can find homes for around 500 families.

The Labour-controlled council - which runs one of London's poorest boroughs and home to much of the Olympic park - blames the soaring cost of rents and the government's cap on housing benefit.

The government has accused Newham of playing party politics, as the BBC's Home Affairs correspondent Mark Easton reports.