Kemi Badenoch slammed over ‘disgraceful’ and ‘wrong’ mental health claims

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has been accused of endorsing “disgraceful” and “wrong” claims about mental health. The Mental Health Foundation attacked the statement as “wrong”, while NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch described the whole section on mental health as “disgraceful”. The new row has been sparked by a claim in the same document, which includes contributions from 24 supporters of Ms Badenoch, that “the rise in welfare claims related to mental health, in the UK at least, has outpaced any conceivable clinical explanation.” Conservative Party leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch But experts hit out at the claim, describing it as “cruel”. Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson Danny Chambers said: “Someone serious about addressing these problems would be putting forward proposals which would support people with mental health issues get back into work.