Scots Labour MP urges colleagues to vote against DWP benefit cuts next week
Brian Leishman said asked his fellow Labour MPs "to do the right thing and stop the proposed changes to our welfare system."
A Scottish Labour MP has urged his colleagues to vote against the UK Government's benefit cuts next week.
Brian Leishman asked his fellow Labour MPs "to do the right thing and stop the proposed changes to our welfare system." He warned the "vote will define careers."
The UK Government's plans to tighten eligibility for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit will go to the House of Commons next week.
Alloa and Grangemouth MP Leishman said: "The welfare reforms the government are proposing will impoverish some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Of that there is no doubt.
"I joined Labour because I believe the party is the way to achieving an equal, fair and socially just country that looks after the most disadvantaged people.
"Goodness knows that after 14 years of austerity and politics that was designed to make people poorer and has ripped the heart out of communities that the country needs to be rebuilt.
"But it has to be rebuilt in a way that is caring and compassionate and shaped by real Labour Party values.
"Labour MPs have a choice to make. Do they believe that the most vulnerable people should be looked after, or not? That's what the vote on these welfare reforms ultimately boils down to. This vote will define careers and this Labour government.
"I urge Labour MPs to do the right thing and stop the proposed changes to our welfare system. Let's build the country we need and work with disability charities and organisations that have frontline experience of the struggle faced by disabled people so we then create a welfare system that truly looks after people."
The UK Government wants to change who is eligible for PIP so only the most severely disabled can make claims.
Ministers also want to cut the sickness related element of universal credit and delay access to it, so only those aged 22 and over can claim it.
Most working Scots on disability benefit receive the devolved Adult Disability Payment (ADP), but SNP Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville confirmed that ADP will not be cut.
She did not explain where the money would come from, even though the UK cuts will likely mean the Scottish Government receives less money
A UK Government source said: "Our reforms will protect the most vulnerable, help those who can work into good, secure jobs and ensure the safety net is there in the future for those who need it most."
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