Maxine Tennet

In response to @Helen_Whately The continued demonization of the most vulnerable members of our society for political point scoring has to stop. On Sky News this morning you bumbled your way through an interview in which you described anxiety as a 'low level mental health condition' and said people suffering from it shouldn't qualify for PIP. I don't receive PIP, but I know a thing or two about anxiety, and there's nothing 'low level' about people who get PIP because of it. Mild anxiety isn't a qualifying condition for PIP. As a former senior RASSO detective I've seen rape survivors become so crippled with anxiety they can't leave their homes. Men and women whose entire lives were stolen from them because someone decided to violate their very essence. I buried my brother when he took his life because he couldn't cope with the anxiety that haunted his every waking hour. You were asked to clarify if all sufferers from anxiety would be denied PIP. After twice being told it's okay to say you didn't know, if you didn't, you said yes, anxiety 'on it's own' wouldn't be a qualifying condition. You further claimed that anxiety sufferers don't incur 'additional expenses' so therefore their condition doesn't meet the original purpose of PIP. You clearly don't understand the disease, and it IS a disease, if you believe that. Ironically, comments like those you so glibly threw out at the public this morning will serve only to worsen the condition of those sufferers who will, despite knowing there's no prospect of you ever being anything other than Shadow Secretary, now become ever more affected. MPs earn an obscene £98,599 a year. On top of that you receive staffing costs, office costs, travel costs and accommodation costs. The very least the public is entitled to expect from any 'duly elected' Member of Parliament is they understand they have a duty of care that, as a minimum, requires them to understand the subjects they're making policy decisions about. There are far too many politicians currently running with the narrative that people with a disability, whether it's physical or psychological, are a drain on our finances. Nobody chooses to be disabled, stop punching down on those who sadly are.