This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
MINISTERS must suspend their harsh benefit sanctions regime until a full independent inquiry into the vicious cuts has been held, MPs have demanded.
Labour MPs Ian Lavery, Alan Meale, Jim Sheridan, Ronnie Campbell, Steve Rotheram and Dennis Skinner have co-sponsored an early day motion noting the breadth of evidence that sanctions are “excessive, punitive and failing.”
The parliamentary petition says that “sanctions are not a last resort, as their use and severity have both escalated dramatically and that they hinder rather than enable claimants to get work.”
Mr Lavery said: “If people are convicted in a court it is illegal to deprive them of food.
“But if you miss an appointment with the Department for Work and Pensions you can be deprived of food. That is a huge injustice in foodbank Britain in 2015.”
