Morecambe MP hits out at Commons disability protesters

Disability rights campaigners protest outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London, after they had disrupted a session of Prime Minister's Questions. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday June 24, 2015. The protesters from a group called Disabled People Against Cuts are campaigning against the end of the Independent Living Fund. See PA story PROTEST Parliament. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

David Morris commented after campaigners tried to enter the House of Commons chamber on Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions but were stopped from getting in by police.

Some of the protesters represented the Disability Against the Cuts group, who are angry that a crucial disability benefit – the Independent Living Fund (ILF) – will end in June.

But, after the Guardian contacted Mr Morris to ask him about the protests, he said people who rely on the ILF will still get the same money.

He said: “The protesters were scaremongering saying that the Independent Living Fund would be cut.

“I have checked with the Department for Work and Pensions and they have told me that the Independent Living Fund is not being cut it will continue to be funded at the same level and it is now being paid through local authorities. People who are currently receiving the independent living fund will continue to get the same amount.”

The ILF closure has been challenged in the courts, but was ruled lawful by the High Court in December.

Campaigners are worried that because money has not been ringfenced, local authorities may pay out lower benefits in future.

Kate Belgrave said in her blog on the official Disabled Against the Cuts website: “The ILF is a fund that profoundly disabled people rely on to pay for personal assistants and the extra carer hours they need.”