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Conservative candidate accused of ignoring dying Jewish man's plea over benefit cut
Matthew Offord, who is standing in Hendon, challenged by widow at synagogue hustings
May 29, 2017 12:59
Matthew Offord, who is standing in Hendon, challenged by widow at synagogue hustings
May 29, 2017 12:59The widow of a Jewish man who died of terminal cancer after cuts in bereavement benefits took effect has accused Hendon Conservative candidate Matthew Offord of ignoring her late husband’s direct pleas for help.
Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, who was chairing an election hustings in Mill Hill Synagogue last Thursday for Hendon, read out a detailed email from “Alan” (as the man was known for privacy reasons) which had been sent to Mr Offord, outlining the more than £50,000 reduction in benefit for his two young children, aged 14 and 10, if he were to die after the benefit changes took effect.
He wrote: “Should I die on or before the 5th of April, the current benefit would support my wife and children for 10 years, until my younger child reaches the age of 20”. But if he were to die just one day later, the benefits would drop in amount and time, to just over £6,000. He died at the beginning of May, Rabbi Schochet said.
Mr Offord, told by Rabbi Schochet that “Alan’s” widow was in the audience, said: “There is a huge amount of detail in that email”, adding that he had not received the information directly, but had been copied in to emails written to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
“There are always going to be losers” from benefit reform, Mr Offord replied, adding that he thought the cuts were “unfair”, and that he was “going to blame the former Chancellor [George Osborne], who is no longer an MP”.
Rabbi Schochet then interjected, saying he had seen the original email correspondence, including emails sent by “Alan” on February 24 and March 10, and that they had been sent directly to Mr Offord - but no response had been received.
The Conservative candidate insisted that a reply had been sent, but “Alan’s” widow called out from the audience, denying that Mr Offord had responded.
“He died, knowing that his MP had completely ignored two emails”, she said. “He was on the front page of a national newspaper, he was on the Victoria Derbyshire show and LBC. His own MP ignored his emails twice”, she said.
Both she and her late husband had felt “very let down” by Mr Offord’s failure to reply, but Mr Offord, who at one point suggested that the widow might remarry, insisted that a response had been sent. “I never ignore a single email,” he declared.
The exchanges were captured on video which has been posted online.
