A Scottish MP who returned to the Commons against the advice of her doctor has called on ministers to increase financial support for survivors of stroke.
Amy Callaghan MP made her first Chamber appearance in almost two years after suffering a haemorrhagic stroke.
The SNP minister for East Dunbartonshire appealed to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey to increase the ‘woeful’ Universal Credit.
Then-28-years-old Callaghan spent four months in hospital after collapsing at home.
The MP said:
“In July 2020, I met my constituent Stacey, not at a constituency surgery but at the PDRU at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
“We recovered from our strokes alongside each other and I got to hear her story.
“Too many people like Stacey have survived catastrophic life events only to be let down by this Government’s woeful welfare system, unable to work and unable to pay for basic necessities many of us take for granted.
“Will she (Therese Coffey) commit to revisiting the current levels of Universal Credit so that stroke survivors like Stacey can truly live their lives instead of barely getting by?”
The Work and Pensions Secretary replied:
“I do know that generally we are trying to make sure… that this is the right approach in order to try and make sure that people have that access to work.”
Callaghan told a Scottish newspaper that she returned to work ‘definitely against doctor’s orders’.
The MP called for the House of Commons to allow proxy voting.
She said:
“Westminster should have adapted to people with my kind of condition, so I could still represent my constituents.
“It should never have reached this point. It’s definitely against doctor’s orders. If this was a constituent travelling to London, I would be telling them not to go.
“If I could do my job from home, and still represent my constituents, I would – but I can’t just now.”
For advice on how to claim benefits after a stroke, head over to the Stroke Association website.
