A welfare state for the 21st century

MP FOR FOLKESTONE AND HYTHE

- Tony Vaughan

LAST week I signed Meg Hillier's amendment that would have stopped the Government's welfare reform bill from passing.

I signed the amendment because I could not in good conscience support the idea that disabled people could lose their PIP.

But even after the Government changed the Bill, I was still planning to vote against it, as I was deeply concerned by the prospect that people who had become seriously ill or disabled, and who sought to claim PIP from November 2026, may not have been able to access it.

The Bill would have barred access to PIP unless the person scored four points in any one of the daily living activity descriptors.