Reform: “18% of Clacton residents being on PIP irrelevant to timing of benefit announcement”

Reform’s announcement to remove PIP and completely restructure the benefit announcement came after the by-election and that’s a complete coincidence, according to reports today.

18% of the Clacton constituency, just over 9,000 people, are currently in receipt of the PIP benefit, which Reform will seek to rip-and-replace with something or other. Possibly scratchcard-based.

“Well, that’s an onion in the ointment,” commented Simon Williams, PIP claimant and Reform voter.

“Kinda wish they’d mentioned that BEFORE the by-election… I mean I probably wouldn’t have changed my mind because I’m… y’know… a Reform voter, but I would have at least had a little think, which again is pretty rare.

”I hope I’m not one of those Father Christmases voting for Turkey or whatever that phrase is people keep saying to me online. That would be embarrassing.”

Reform spokesperson, Danny Lucifer, commented, “Yeah we definitely hadn’t come up with this policy BEFORE the election. Absolutely not.

”There definitely wasn’t a meeting where we decided to throw a hornet’s nest at the benefit system and we definitely didn’t decide to hold fire on said hornet’s nest until after Nigel had won in a constituency where over 9,000 people claim the very benefit we’re getting rid of.

“…I know when I phrase it that way it SOUNDS suspicious, but it isn’t. So there.”

Count Binface commented, “This wasn’t part of my manifesto. Just saying.

“Clacton could have been feasting on 99p Mr Whippy ice creams, safe in the knowledge that their MP isn’t fighting for the removal of an essential benefit.

“Still, hindsight 20/20 and all that.”