No group has been hit harder by the Tories’ Bedroom Tax than disabled people – they make up two thirds of people hit by the housing benefit cut.

And yet the MP appointed yesterday by Theresa May as the new minister for disabled people described opposition to the cruel policy as “deeply offensive”.

Sarah Newton, who replaced Penny Mordaunt at the DWP, made the ludicrous accusation during a debate on the Bedroom Tax in September 2014.

Her outburst was in response to a suggestion by then Labour MP Nick Raynsford that it is “common sense” not to cut the benefits of tenants with ‘spare rooms’ if there was no smaller accommodation for them to move into.

To the outrage of opposition MPs, Newton twice claimed his anti-Bedroom Tax speech was “offensive”:

“I really cannot accept that people with disabilities and people who absolutely need help are not able to get it.”

Mounting a passionate defence of the policy, which is still blighting the lives of 420,000 disabled people, the out-of-touch Tory added:

It’s probably too much to ask for an MP whose father owns 116 holiday cottages to understand the impact of the Bedroom Tax.

So no surprise that the Truro and Falmouth MP’s voting record resembles a list of punishments for the poor and vulnerable:

Now, that’s ‘deeply offensive’…