Tory backbencher calls on Penny Mordaunt to call off PIP eligibility cuts
Heidi Allen.
Heidi Allen has a history of speaking against Tory benefit changes and then voting for them.
In October 2015, her maiden speech before the House of Commons criticised proposed cuts to tax credits. She then marched through the ‘aye’ lobby alongside all her fellow Conservatives, in line with the Tory whip, and voted the same cuts through.
Now she is calling for Penny Mordaunt to rethink her plan to narrow down eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment that goes to people who have disabilities, in order to keep payments within an arbitrary Tory budget.
Ms Mordaunt’s decision follows two rulings by the courts, saying current criteria should be extended because they are not fair.
But who can doubt that Ms Allen will again go back on her word and support the cuts, if they are put before the Commons for approval?
On the Today programme this morning the Conservative MP Heidi Allen said she hoped the government would reconsider its plan to curb eligibility for the personal independence payment. And she said the whole benefit should be reviewed, because it was not “fit for purpose”. She told the programme:
“In my view, the courts are there for a reason. If they have come up with this ruling, which says that the criteria should be extended, then I believe we have a duty to honour that. That is their role. Does that mean we should look at the process as a whole? Frankly I think we should do that anyway. It is not fit for purpose at the moment.”
Asked if she had a message for the disabilities minister Penny Mordaunt, Allen said:
“Don’t do it. If I was in her shoes, I would take the financial hit and say we need to accept this. Now let’s really look at this PIP policy, which is something that needs to happen anyway, and review the whole thing from top to bottom.”
Source: Guardian Politics Live web page
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A two-faced Tory pretending she is sticking up for disabled people, when exactly the opposite is true. Behind, to her right is an overfed and complacent Tory who doesn’t look the slightest bit interested in any of it.
review it from top to bottom before you face a challenge that you may regret, looking at some of the quality of these reports and the quality of the assessors that may happen sooner than you think, even costs relating to complaints against assessors is expensive and in any assessments that i look at on a freelance basis i am advising the person to give consent to complaining against the assessor as it is clear they are not fit for purpose and getting away with to much to often
I guess once a Tory sheep is in the herd they will only respond not as an intelligent individual but as any good herd member so as not to harm their careers…..I just wish they were all lemmings instead of sheep.
Another review will mean more cuts from this government. Every time they stick their noses into something the sick and disabled lose out. I hate them. What the hell was Copeland thinking voting for them?