MPs push ministers on regional benefit cap – as Tories mull putting it in manifesto

One of the regular duties of a Work and Pensions minister is to defend his or her programme of reform against criticisms from all sides about how it is administered. At today’s Work and Pensions questions in the Commons, Mike Penning didn’t try all that hard, though, to defend Atos Healthcare and its contract to carry out the Work Capability Assessment. Instead, he described the situation as a ‘mess’ and blamed the last Labour government for the contract.