The Department for Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey has resigned. She departed the cabinet due to Theresa May’s botched Brexit deal. But politicians are lining up to point out all the other reasons why she should have resigned.
“A hostile environment”
Shadow minister for disabled people Marsha de Cordova pointed to the “hostile environment” the DWP has created for disabled people:
Esther McVey will not be missed. She leaves a legacy of entrenching a hostile environment for disabled people at the @DWP:
A Universal Credit system that is ruining lives, a cruel sanctions regime, & a callous assessment framework.https://t.co/L6CvHFb6po
— Marsha de Cordova (@MarshadeCordova) November 15, 2018
Labour MP Richard Burgon pointed out she should have resigned “long ago”:
So Esther McVey has now resigned too over the Government’s botched Brexit plan.
She should have resigned long ago over the way she has treated disabled people and people on Universal Credit.
But good riddance anyway.https://t.co/hoF3MOWBrq
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) November 15, 2018
Meanwhile, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon echoed what many people are thinking:
I just hope that Esther McVey takes the travesty that is Universal Credit out the door with her.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 15, 2018
But it was left to journalist Tom Peck to point out the real shock of her resignation:
https://twitter.com/tompeck/status/1063009871610724352
Watching the resignations
Watching one resignation after another from May’s government is welcome. But we need to keep remembering why they’re resigning. In McVey’s case, she’s not resigning for misleading parliament twice over Universal Credit. Nor is she resigning because of the misery she’s caused to disabled people.
But this is exactly why the government needs to fall. Not over whatever botch job May has made of Brexit, but because of the utter misery the Conservative Party has caused across the country.
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Featured image via screengrab and Wikimedia
