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Faiza Shaheen slams Iain Duncan Smith: It's "abhorrent" that he's being knighted
28 December 2019, 08:22
The candidate against IDS in the General Election thinks that it's an insult to the people who Iain Duncan Smith's welfare policy affected for him to be knighted.
Dr Faiza Shaheen ran against IDS in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in the General Election.
She told Andrew Castle why she is annoyed by the fact that he's being knighted.
She said: "i keep thinking about all of the people that wrote to me during the election who were personally affected by the welfare reform that IDS put in place during his time as Welfare Minister between 2010 and 2016.
"Oh gosh, so many stories of people with Parkinson's disease who were reassessed with their benefits, even though they were sick and get sicker.
"People with cerebral palsy, which only gets worse, and my own mum who had heart failure.That process of reassessment of benefits for sick and disabled people and was done in a very cruel way.:
Shaheen later said: "The point is that he's really hurt people.
"His welfare policies have hurt thousands of people.
"For those people and I, you know, saw what happened with my mum, it's completely abhorrent abhorrent for then someone to be getting awarded on the Honours list when they have damaged your life, or your mum's life or family member's life so much."