LIZ KENDALL was condemned today after saying that some benefits claimants are “taking the mickey.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary made the comments in response to a report from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) that found 49 per cent of health and disability benefits recipients reported feeling they would never be able to work or work again.

It also found that 27 per cent felt they might be able to work in future but only if their health improved, increasing to 44 per cent of recipients whose main health condition was related to mental health.

Ms Kendall said that while most claimants want to return to work, “I have no doubt, as there always have been, there are people who shouldn’t be on those benefits who are taking the mickey and that is not good enough — we have to end that.”

She added that the “sick-note culture” former prime minister Rishi Sunak described before the general election is “genuinely a problem with many young people, particularly the Covid generation, but we can’t have a situation where doing a day’s work is in itself seen as stressful.”

A spokeswoman for Momentum said: “These are scandalous comments from a Labour minister.

“We need a Labour government that stands up for all working-class people, not demonises the most vulnerable in our society.”

Disabled People Against Cuts co-founder Linda Burnip said: “Liz Kendall continually harping on about increasing opportunities to work is simply laughable when current claims for Access to Work funding has a 40-week backlog and funding to make reasonable adjustments to support disabled people in work appears to be going to be withdrawn from larger firms.”