The Green MP for Brighton Pavilion has urged the government to treat benefits claimants as “citizens not suspects”.
Siân Berry spoke out during a “second reading” debate on the main principles of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.
She told the House of Commons: “I’ve had so much correspondence on this from people in my constituency of Brighton Pavilion who are very concerned about the sweeping powers of this bill to invade their privacy and treat them as suspects, not citizens.
“I’m talking about pensioners who need pension credit, people who are permanently disabled whose entitlement to employment support allowance is clear and settled, people who are precariously under or unemployed who need universal credit, family carers and people who are simply on low wages where they cannot make ends meet.
“These are citizens, not suspects.”
The government won a vote on the bill – or draft law – which is due to be considered in more detail by a committee of MPs at a date and time to be set.
To read more about the bill, click here.
We should treat the government like criminals, make them prove they are fit for public service and not just mates of another overpaid teabody
That’s what elections are for.
An election wheter for Councillor or MP IS the vetting process.
There is no vetting in the elections, only choices, vetting would or should include local connections, not just a party plant, is the nominee qualified at anything, ever ??. for example criminal convictions, bankrupt companies, outstanding taxes or vat. and a few more items that should be called basic standards, that would be vetting.
Absolutely agree. Instead of treating disabled people as burdens or suspects, we should be investigating the systemic failures that lead to disability in the first place. Poor prenatal environments, inadequate healthcare, and neglect by councils and the DWP all contribute to hidden disabilities that people are then punished for having.
Rather than forcing disabled individuals into unsuitable work and instructing them to hide their conditions from employers, we should be holding the institutions accountable—those that fail in prevention and care, and those that engage in fraud while scapegoating the most vulnerable. If Brighton doesn’t want an influx of disabled individuals, maybe it should stop creating them through negligence and then abandoning them when they need support. It’s time to audit the health industry, councils, and the DWP, instead of treating disabled people as disposable.
There’s certainly improvements to be made with PIP, with a ridiculously high appeal success rate, one of the aspects I would like to see is let these assessments be handled by clinicians, independent of any department as to not be pushed by KPIs.
This country has way more disability allowance recipients per capita than other countries and is costing the UK an absolute fortune.. so therefore less money for the NHS and education and housing – think it’s quite right to weed out the massive number claimants who could perfectly well work and contribute to the economy ..
The UK is not a high spender on disability benefits.
In 2023, UK spending on disability benefits was 1.7% of GDP, close to the OECD average and less than Norway, Denmark, Belgium, New Zealand, Spain, Israel, Iceland, Switzerland, Estonia, Netherlands, Australia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania and Croatia. Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Some of the high figures on disability claimants of working age is due to the very high NHS waiting lists because our NHS has been left to rot.
I suggest not believing everything you read in the newspapers, which spend all their time scapegoating vulnerable people.
I agree, newspapers are notoriously unreliable sources of information, and where possible primary sources are always preferable to form an informed opinion.
What about the victims of the grooming scandal she voted against holding a full inquest for?
She doesn’t want to rock the ‘community cohesion’ boat that is being forced on British society.