SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has called on David Cameron to publish reports into the deaths of 60 people who took their own lives after being told they were fit to work.
During Prime Minister’s questions in Parliament yesterday, he raised the tragic case of 60-year-old disabled dad Michael O’Sullivan, whom a coroner ruled had killed himself after being wrongly found fit for work after a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) assessment and warned of a risk of further deaths.
Last month it was revealed that inner London coroner Mary Hassell concluded that the “trigger” for O’Sullivan’s suicide was his fit for work assessment.
She demanded action to be taken to save lives in her Prevention of Future Deaths report sent to the DWP.
The dad-of-two, from north London, was moved from employment support on to Jobseekers’ Allowance despite providing reports from three doctors, including his GP, stating that he had long-term depression and agoraphobia and was unable to work. He killed himself at his home on 24 September 2013.
Last night Michael’s grieving daughter Anne-Marie said: “On behalf of my family I would like to thank Angus Robertson for raising the question in Parliament relating to my father’s tragic passing.
“The significance of the coroner’s ruling after dad’s inquest was both traumatic and heart-wrenching for us.
“Yet, despite the DWP admitting to “regrettable mistakes”, our understanding is that the WCA system is still unsafe, so why have ministers taken no action, more than two years after dad died? We do not want other families to face the devastation that ours has gone through, but we fear that many have been forced to do so.
“This assessment process is broken and unsafe and we urge the Government to halt the WCA immediately until a more transparent and fairer system can be found. Their current style of assessing disabled people has been proven not to work and to put lives at risk.
“Since losing our much loved father, our lives have changed forever – it left us completely shattered and devastated. Even two years on, the pain we feel is still immeasurable. That void will remain with us always.
“Our father was a gentleman. He was honest, gentle and kind. He should not have been tormented or made to feel like a criminal, at a time when all he needed was some support.
“Lessons must be learned from the catastrophic mistakes made by the DWP in dad’s case and they must never, ever be repeated.”
Robertson insisted the death of the dad from London cannot be ignored by the Tory Government.
He said: “This has been absolutely harrowing for Michael’s family, and we must work to ensure this does not happen again.
“The Prime Minister has questions to answer – the Department for Work and Pensions has undertaken 60 investigations into suicides that have occurred after benefits were withdrawn or reduced, but has so far, refused to publish what it has learnt.
“The Prime Minister cannot ignore the Coroner’s warning that there is a risk of further deaths.”
John McArdle, co-founder of the Scottish-based Black Triangle campaign, who have been working with the O’Sullivan family, insisted they would never give up the fight for justice.
He said: “We will never give up the struggle for justice for Michael O’Sullivan, his friends and family until every UK resident and the whole world knows and understands fully that the UK Government’s so-called ‘Welfare Reform’ amounts to nothing but a policy of democide where the state acts ‘intentionally or knowingly with a reckless and depraved disregard for life’.”
“This is a shameful day for the UK but we wish to thank the SNP from the bottom of our hearts for speaking out on our behalf today in Parliament.”
Anti-austerity protester Sean Clerkin added: “I think it is absolutely disgraceful that the UK Government is not prepared to release the information about their response to the future deaths report sent by the coroner. It is scandalous this is not in the public domain. It has to be published because the lives of tens of thousands of disabled people depend on it.
“All he said in response to Angus Robertson’s question was that he would go away and look into it. That’s not good enough.”
Assessment reveals almost 70% of those on two-year welfare to work scheme failed to find a job
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