Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has criticised government plans to tighten eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from November 2026, warning they could push vulnerable people into poverty. Speaking about his own experiences as a carer, he expressed concern that many disabled people and their carers could lose vital support, saying, "It’s the sort of thing that will keep people up at night." Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00What I'm alarmed at is that he's created a lot of uncertainty and a lot of fear amongst people,
00:06not just disabled people, but their carers.
00:08If you're caring with someone with severe disabilities, it's the sort of thing that will key you up at night,
00:14worrying about what the Prime Minister and the new government are going to do.
00:18And I'm really worried that the devil will be in the detail.
00:21We've not seen all that detail yet.
00:24Liberal Democrats are quite happy to try to support more people into work if they can work,
00:28particularly young people, if we need to give them extra equipment, extra training, health treatment.
00:33Of course we should all do that.
00:35But people who can't work, if you take away their support, they'll just be in poverty, and that's wrong.
00:41My son is very severely disabled. I don't think he's going to be affected. We'll see.
00:47But I'm worried about many of the people I know, through caring for my son,
00:52and I meet lots of other parents and carers who have real challenges.
00:58We're fortunate in many ways, but often their support, their personal independence payment, the PIP, is really all they get.
01:06I'm really clear that Liberal Democrats support getting people into work who can work, giving them help to do that.
01:12It's quite the right thing to do, whether it's help with their caring,
01:15whether it's help with their health or training or special equipment, that's the right thing to do.
01:20But penalising people who are severely disabled, that would be wrong.