Speeches by Milne.

“Not entirely, although I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. The standard method was intended as an objective way to calculate local housing targets. It is objective in the sense that it is mathematical. However, the question has to be asked: does it give appropriate targets? I would say it very much does not. …”

“Yes, I agree that that is an additional concern. The implication has been made, both by this Government and the previous one, that much of the rise in claims is down to benefit chasing and people simply exaggerating their conditions. This is an assumption that needs serious interrogation because it looks to be substant…”

“I cannot agree with the hon. Member, and I will partly explain why in a moment. We need a more honest assessment of the overall financial situation that is being used to justify these drastic cuts, because the wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong solutions. The dramatic rise in PIP claimants is at least partly driven by …”

“I rise to speak in support of amendment 36. Over the past weeks, I have met numerous disability organisations, from Parkinson’s UK to Action for ME, and heard directly from those living with complex fluctuating conditions. I have also seen the impact at first hand as an employer of people with long-term invisible disab…”

“That is a gross generalisation. There are local factors everywhere. The hon. Gentleman really cannot make generalisations like that.”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Will the hon. Member give way?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) for drawing attention to this often-neglected area. For many years, planning has been the subject of intense argument and dispute, both locally and nationally. Part of that argument is around environme…”

“In my constituency of Horsham, I have been asked to support a woman left in limbo regarding the trial of her ex-partner on a domestic abuse charge. When she was finally given a date, the trial was pulled as a result of an administrative error as she sat waiting in the courtroom. A new date was set for a whole year late…”

“14. What steps she is taking to tackle the backlog in the courts.”

“I have great respect for the experience and intelligence of the Ministers behind the Bill, but what we have left in front of us today is no more than a clumsy salvage operation. How on earth did we end up here? The Government say that the cost of disability benefit is spiralling out of control. They say there is no opt…”

“We owe a huge debt of thanks to the whole of the world war two generation, but I would like to pay special tribute to a remarkable local hero from my constituency, Jack Dark, the last surviving member of the Pathfinder squadron. The Pathfinders played a crucial role in world war two, flying ahead of bomber formations t…”

“One last question. We have also been told that the bigger problem is not so much the disparity between the standard allowance and UC health as the inadequacy of the standard allowance, and we have talked a bit about that already. The Bill requires the Secretary of State to increase the standard allowance by at least th…”

“Needs first not Treasury first. It feels like you are saying Treasury first.”

“Is there not a case for arguing that if you press down on one benefit it simply in the end comes up in another benefit? That is why the overall level of benefits has remained quite constant over a long time, as Debbie said at the start, and that this is likely to happen again. People were driven into PIP because they l…”

“The Bill just published provides for a rebalancing of UC rates that you set out in the Green Paper, and it includes a significant reduction for new claimants after 2026. The justification is that it will incentivise people to find work, but we have been told that it may have the opposite effect and that has happened in…”

“So it is a correct statement that there will be far more net losers than net gainers?”

“That is what you said, yes.”

“Following up on an answer you gave in the House a couple of days ago to my question, as far as PIP claimants specifically are concerned, so excluding the wider UC claimant base, do you agree that there will be far more net losers than net gainers by the changes you are making? I mean the current claimants of PIP and al…”

“Nothing particularly for today. As part of the review, are you considering what changes need to be made specifically to reflect the PIP assessment’s future role? It can be the means by which eligibility for UC health will be determined.”