May’s policy chief apologises for dismissing anxiety victims

THE head of Theresa May’s policy unit has apologised for claiming disability benefits should go to “really disabled people” rather than those who suffer from anxiety, after his comments were criticised by Conservative MPs.

George Freeman, who had suggested that people “taking pills at home, who suffer from anxiety” were not deserving of enhanced benefits, insisted he was “passionate about supporting mental health” and “hugely regretted” any offence he had caused.

Mr Freeman had made the comments in response to a tribunal ruling that said claimants with mental health problems who cannot travel without help must be treated like those who are blind. He made the apology after the Tory MP Heidi Allen suggested he may not have been “fully aware of the detail” of the ruling when he spoke.

Mr Freeman said on Twitter: “Having experienced myself traumatic anxiety as a child carer living with alcohol I know all too well the pain anxiety and depression cause, which is why as a former health minister and policy adviser I am passionate about supporting mental health and disability, and hugely regret if my comment about the need to prioritise the most ‘serious disabilities’ inadvertently caused any offence which was not intended.”

Penny Mordaunt, the disabilities minister, has said she will take action to ensure that Personal Independence Payments go only to the most needy, but Ms Allen said the judgment on whether an individual’s disability was bad enough to entitle them to benefits should be taken on a “person by person basis” and was not for MPs to make.

She said the PIP system was “not fit for purpose” and called for a root and branch review, adding that government has a “duty to honour” the courts.