£900K lost in disability payments ■MP blasts lack of compassion ■Impact of decisions branded devastating

Vulnerable residents have lost nearly £900,000 in disability benefits, shocking new figures have revealed.

The statistics, from investigative website The Ferrett, show that in the East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow constituency, 270 people who previously qualified for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) have not been given a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) following medical assessments – amounting to a staggering £899,893.80 in the year up to October 31, 2017.

PIP is the new non-means-tested benefit for people aged between 16 and 24 with longterm health conditions, or impairments, whether physical or mental.

It replaced DLA after the UK Government argued that it needed £12 billion of savings from welfare spending.

But constituency SNP MP Dr Lisa Cameron has accused the Tories of showing no “decency or compassion” towards the most vulnerable through swingeing welfare cuts while East Kilbride SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said the changes are plunging more people into poverty.

East Kilbride anti-poverty campaigner Denis Curran MBE, who is also chair of the Loaves and Fishes food bank, said benefits cuts have led to a “massive increase” in residents relying on emergency food parcels