Works and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has been heavily criticised and told to show more sensitivity in Parliament, after he branded disabled people ‘abnormal’.
Offensive and discriminatory
Speaker John Bercow and two Labour MPs branded Duncan Smith – who is charged with administering benefits to thousands of disabled people – “offensive and discriminatory” for his remarks.
Duncan Smith had been responding to the news on Monday of a rise in the number of people with disabilities returning to work. According to Hansard, the official record of what is said in parliament, Mr Duncan Smith said: “We have made huge strides in getting more people with disabilities back into work … but the most important point is that we are looking to get that up to the level of normal, non-disabled people who are back in work”.
Ministerial code
The comment was quickly criticised as “shocking” and “shameful” and Labour MP Debbie Abrahams called for an investigation into whether the work and pensions secretary had broken the ministerial code. In response John Bercow, mediating proceeding as House of Commons Speaker, implored all MPs to consider the impact of their words.
Take responsibility
“Everybody who speaks in this place must take responsibility for what he or she says.”
He told parliamentarians: “The language used was not disorderly, there was nothing out of order about it and therefore it didn’t necessitate any intervention from the chair. Everybody who speaks in this place must take responsibility for what he or she says.”
He added: “It is extremely important that we express ourselves with sensitivity and in a way which will be viewed as such, not just within the House but beyond it.
“I don’t think that I can go beyond that today. I recognise the upset that the honourable gentleman feels and, perhaps, that other feels.
“I don’t think that I can say more than what I’ve just said, but I am sure that what he has said and what I’ve said in response will be noted in the appropriate quarters and I hope it won’t be necessary to return to this theme.”
Under fire
It’s not the first time Mr Duncan Smith has come under fire. Last month it emerged that 2,380 people died within six weeks of being declared ‘fit to work’ by the government between 2011 and 2014.
Read more on this story on the Huffington Post website.
