Theresa May clashes with Jeremy Corybn over mental health funding at PMQs

Theresa May speaking at PMQs today
BBC
Kate Proctor1 March 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Theresa May has defended her decision to reform disability payments after Labour said 160,000 mentally ill people would be worse off.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the Government of “sneaking out” their announcement on the payments after disabilities minister Penny Mourdaunt said the money would only go to the most needy.

This is despite two tribunals ruling that the Personal Independent Payments (PIP) should be extended to include more people with psychological problems.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs May insisted it was “not a policy change” and they are spending a record amount on people with mental health conditions.

She said: “What we are doing is restoring this particular payment to the original intention that was agreed by the coalition Government. Agreed by this Parliament, after extensive consultation.”

Mr Corbyn insisted the Prime Minister’s decision to “over-rule” the courts was “shameful”.

He said: “A Government that found a billion pounds in inheritance tax cuts to benefit 26,000 families seems unable to find the money to support 160,000 people with debilitating mental health conditions.”

“It will affect people with dementia, those suffering cognitive disorders due to a stroke, military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and those with schizophrenia.”

He then accused her of quietly slipping out the changes to PIP on Thursday February 23 with the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green not informing Labour.

Mrs May said: “He called both offices of the shadow work and pensions secretary. But there was no answer and they didn’t come back to him for four days.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams Tweeted later: “Not true. Green left message on mobile Monday morning. No message left at constituency office. Voicemail message left at parliamentary office on Thurs evening AFTER written statement issued.”

A No 10 spokesperson said: “My understanding is that repeated telephone calls were made but they weren’t answered.”

A statement from the Department for Work and Pensions said the legal judgements interpreted the assessment criteria for PIP in ways that are different to the original intention.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in