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Coronavirus: MP apologises for telling man to 'get a life' over £94 sick pay complaint
Tory MP Pauline Latham said the "hasty" response to a constituent was sparked by her stress about her brother, who has acute dementia and was unable to return home to the UK
A Tory MP has apologised for telling a man who complained about the UK's £94-a-week sick pay rate to "get a life".
Pauline Latham issued the statement today after she replied to a constituent on Twitter with the blunt advice.
The man, with the Twitter handle @ML1Hughes, had messaged the Mid Derbyshire MP on Saturday asking: "Is £94 a week SSP is enough to live on? How could you manage on it?".
She replied: "Get a life."
Ms Latham said today in a statement from her office: "I must apologise for the Tweet a constituent over the weekend.
"At the time, I was in Spain in a state of distress having just visited my brother who is suffering from acute dementia
Very sadly, we could not bring him home to the UK because of Coronavirus.
"At this time of stress, I received a Tweet from what I perceived to be a keyboard warrior and it pushed me over the edge.
"I am very sorry I reacted so hastily."
It comes after calls on the government to ramp up the rate of Statutory Sick Pay after Tory Chancellor refused to say if he could live on it.
Rishi Sunak last week announced he will refund firms the costs of Statutory Sick Pay for two weeks.
He will also speed up access to sick benefit ESA; remove the Minimum Income Floor in Universal Credit and suspend the need to turn up in person at a Jobcentre.
But he defied pleas by unions to make Statutory Sick Pay more generous or extend it to more people.