CARLISLE Labour MP Julie Minns – a former campaigner for disability charity, Scope, appears to have been drawn away on urgent business as the News & Scar came calling this week about the, er, Government cutting PIP disability benefits.
The newspaper, emerging butterfly-like from its post-election cocoon, suddenly remembered that the city MP had made disabled rights “a key part” of her campaign before last year’s General Election.
A young scribe on the paper fearlessly raised these inconsistencies with Ms Minns’ office, although the MP, he frostily reported in an article published today: “Did not respond to these questions”.
Unusual behaviour for a working class lass who once talked for a living as a communications consultant.
So much for making the PIPs squeak, or speak.
Long before she belly-splashed into Parliament, Minns’s previous jobs included toiling away for Scope in its “campaigns department” which included parliamentary hustling and hand-shaking.
We may be making assumptions here but cutting the benefits of people with disabilities was probably not in her in-tray.
In last year’s pre-election campaign video, you could almost sense her lip ‘a quiver’ as she spoke of her self-sacrifice in this area.
“Two decades protecting the most vulnerable in our society,” her violin lamented over a grainy old 1990s photo.
Back here in the world of actions, not words, Scope’s chairman has just threatened to resign over Labour’s “disgraceful” decisions, thundering to reporters that the party has: “Lost its moral direction.”
Some 6,000 or so people in Carlisle are eligible for PIPs and it’s a fair bet that the odd one or two may have voted for Ms Minns last year.
After all, a vote cast the other way for the ‘Nasty Party’ is almost certain to see them do a ‘Jason Voorhees’ on the benefits bill.
PIP claimants in Carlisle may, in the coming weeks, be loudly revving up their mobility scooters and considering a run down to the MP’s office.
Not that they have much chance of finding out where it is. (See The Cumbria MP Mystery and Paper Deletes Unsafe Photo.)
To be fair, Minns is not the only Cumbrian Labour MP that our media has chalked up recently as Missing in Action.
Last week the News & Scar did a page lead headlined: “Changes are slammed”.
This time it was the boss of Citizens Advice in Carlisle & Eden criticising the Government for: “Slashing support for those who most need it.”
The downcast Age Concern boss suggested that people worried about the PIP situation and potential cuts to the healthcare element of Universal Credit should seek out their MP.
The paper took this advice quite liddderally, mate, and sought a stunning retort from Labour’s Josh MacAlister (Whitehaven & Wokeington) and Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith & Solway).
Surprise, surprise, neither of the two young guns were ANYWHERE to be found by the time the sun set on Press day!
Perhaps our MPs here were awaiting a fresh delivery of hymn sheets?
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thecumbriachronic.co.uk 
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