MP’s fury at benefits cut death rates

OLDHAM MP Debbie Abrahams has reacted angrily to new figures that reveal almost 10,000 people have died after being denied full sickness benefits.

The figures also show a quarter of these were dead within two weeks of being ordered to find work.

Mrs Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “People who either on Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are dying at more than four times the rate of the general population and this blows out of the water the Government’s rhetoric that they are scroungers and shirkers.

“People on IB or ESA are very sick and vulnerable people and should not be being vilified by Iain Duncan Smith as he did, again, last week when he suggested some people are behaving in a fraudulent way. We should be looking after them, not humiliating them and demonising them.

“The Government should be ashamed. It should also apologise to claimants and families of those that have died for the distress they must have caused.”