Cat Eccles

It is a pleasure to see you in the chair, Ms Jardine. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Neil Duncan-Jordan) for securing this timely and important debate. More than 6,000 people in my constituency claim personal independence payments. Hundreds of them have written to me and I have met many of them and their families at listening events I have held across the constituency. One clear thing they all say to me is that being disabled is already a full-time job. Of the 6,000 people who claim PIP in my constituency, 40% will never work; 30% are in work; and approximately 30% are awaiting some form of treatment. I have been seeking assurances from Ministers on behalf of those constituents who are in work thanks to their PIP, and the answer I keep getting is that they may score differently next time around. If those people lose their payments, they will not be able to afford to pay their bills, and they could lose their jobs and their homes. How are we to get people into work when we are pushing others out of it? PIP has never worked for disabled people and the Government should work with the disabled to design a positive vision for PIP. The Green Paper is not a meaningful reform; it is tweaking the same bad policies.