Shadow work and pensions minister Helen Whately stands accused of telling a massive lie in her efforts to demonise claimants with mental health and neurodevelopmental issues, in her speech to the Conservative party conference today.
Whately told the assembled delegates:
“Millions are getting benefits for anxiety and ADHD, along with a free Motability car.”
In reality, the number of claimants who get the enhanced rate of the mobility component – which gives access to the Motability scheme is:
Mixed anxiety and depressive disorders: 128,164
Anxiety disorders: 20,272
ADHD: 42,596
So, the total number of claimants with anxiety or ADHD who would be eligible for a Motability car, though many will not actually have used their mobility component in this way, is actually 191,032.
So, even if we took Whately’s “millions” to mean two million, that would still be more than ten times the maximum possible number of people with anxiety and ADHD who could have “a free Motability car.”
Will Whately apologise for misleading not just the conference, but also the British public, and deliberately stoking hatred and prejudice against disabled benefits claimants?
We suspect we already know the answer to that question.
