'Government has created hostile environment for disabled people'published at 21:27 Greenwich Mean Time 19 December 2018
Impact of Changes to Disability Support Debate
House of Commons
Parliament
Summing up the debate for Labour, shadow work and pensions minister Marsha de Cordova says the UN report described the disability support system as "callous and punitive" and demands that the government own up to the effects of £14bn of cuts to disabled people's social support since 2010.
"In the last eight years disabled people have been forced to bear the brunt of the Tory austerity programme," she says. "Disabled people have been hit nine times harder than the rest of the popularity - punished by the introduction of PIP."
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without the support they need, she adds, noting that disabled people are losing six months worth of income under changes imposed by the government.
"There are structural problems inherent in Universal Credit," she says.
Ms de Cordova says the government "has created a hostile environment for disabled people, and turned their lives into a living hell".