Philip Hammond LIED about effect of disabled workers on the economy; Theresa May defended him. BOTH must pay

Partners in lies: Philip Hammond and Theresa May [Image: The Independent].

Isn’t this enough to justify petitions against both Philip Hammond and Theresa May for Contempt of Parliament?

We have clear evidence that Mr Hammond, giving evidence to MPs on the Commons Treasury Committee, said lower productivity was due to the presence of disabled people in the workforce.

Now we have clear information that Mr Hammond had no reason to make that assertion:

He lied to Parliament.

People are angry about this:

And what did Theresa May have to say about it in Prime Minister’s Questions?

This:

The Chancellor did not express the views that the hon. Lady claims he expressed. This is a Government who value the contribution that disabled people make to our society and to our economy in the workplace. This is a Government who are actually working to ensure that more disabled people get into the workplace. We have had some success; there is more to do, but we will continue to work to ensure that those disabled people who want to work are able to do so.

That’s right – she lied to Parliament.

Charity leaders are furious about this – witness this extract from a Sky News report:

Mark Atkinson, chief executive of charity Scope, told Sky News: “The Chancellor did explicitly link increased participation of disabled people in the workforce with productivity.

“We wrote to the Prime Minister last week to request an explanation for these unacceptable and derogatory comments. There hasn’t been a reply.

“The Chancellor still hasn’t withdrawn his comments, or offered a full apology.

“He has to do this now, before further doubt is thrown onto the Government’s policy to get more disabled people in to work.”

Susan Daniels OBE, chief executive of the National Deaf Children’s Society said: “Given the right support a deaf person can do anything a hearing person can, yet we know that 56% of deaf people have experienced discrimination at work and 25% have left a job as a result.

“In its words and actions the Government needs to show complete commitment to breaking down the barriers to employment for deaf young people and others with disabilities.

“Anything less is unacceptable”

It isn’t merely unacceptable – it borders on hate crime.

The Conservative Party has been victimising disabled people for seven years – seven years in which people with disabilities have seen opportunities for them to gain paid employment diminish markedly – does anybody even remember that Remploy used to be an employer of disabled people? –  while right-wing ‘news’ media have demonised them as scroungers and skivers, determined to spend their entire lives on benefits.

Meanwhile, the – Conservative-run – benefit system has systematically stripped away extra help intended to enable people with disabilities to get jobs. It has cut the amount of benefit payments they receive. Assessors have worked hard to push claimants off disability benefits with false claims that they are faking their disabilities – and have tried to push disabled people towards suicide.

It is in this context that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has lied to Parliament about the role of disabled people in the workplace, and the Prime Minister has lied to Parliament about his comments.

Should they face Contempt of Parliament proceedings?

Yes – of course they should.

And this is exactly the right time for such proceedings.

The government has just lost a key vote on Brexit and has been shown to be weak. A direct attack on the honesty of its two most powerful members – now – could have a far-reaching result.


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6 thoughts on “Philip Hammond LIED about effect of disabled workers on the economy; Theresa May defended him. BOTH must pay

  1. Barry Davies

    He is of course correct, in some cases, where the persons disability does stop them working at the same level of an able bodied person, but with everything to do with the disabled they use the same brush to paint a picture of all the disabled, i.e. they are the feckless idle who don’t want to work but those who do are useless at it, typical political double speak that they get away with because a small proportion will always fit the claims they are making.

  2. blackghost55

    vile to the very last…
    Dont people realise that this tory govt filth literally hate and I mean HATE the poor, disabled, the workless due to no fault of their own? Fraud hmm pay em a coupla quid an hour, that’s all their worth
    so sad really… oh to be born with a silver spoon up my a**e…
    ok rant over

  3. John Costello

    Given his asinine comment that there are ‘no longer any unemployed people’, should we infer from the reductions in the benefits budget for the sick and the disabled that the government are now successful in curing the sick and the disabled?

    John Costello
    Activist for ‘We Are shadows’

  4. Jill Jervis

    There are few conservatives I would trust to tell the truth, especially all those who voted to starve, make homeless and general degrade the poor, sick and disabled and without doing any impact assessment, coz they couldn’t care less what happens outside their little ivory towers.

Comments are closed.