THE MP for Taunton and Wellington has voted against recent Labour welfare reforms saying the government “got it completely wrong.”

Gideon Amos was one of 70 Liberal Democrat MPs to have voted against the Labour proposed bill.

On Tuesday, July 1, MPs voted to approve the government’s revised reforms to the welfare system.

More than 40 Labour MPs rebelled by voting against their party’s proposals, which passed with 336 votes, of which 333 were Labour and three independents, to 261 — a margin of 75.

Mr Amos said: “The proposal is to narrow the eligibility for Personal Independence Payments for disabled people and to freeze Universal Credit.

“The government got it completely wrong by proposing a £5-billion arbitrary number of the amount of money they're going to cut from disability benefits and then said they're going to work out afterwards how to cut that money.

“What they should have done was focus more on getting people back to health and back to work, and then see what savings could be drawn from that.

“The government got the bill through with its majority cut in half to only 75.

“It’s not the right thing to do, and that’s why I voted against it.”

The government’s Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill was first announced on June 18 but has since been watered down by the Prime Minister in what has been described as an effort to sway Labour MPs.

The bill, which now awaits further scrutiny at the committee stage on July 9, proposes to alter the universal credit allowance and to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment, or PIP, a benefit claimed by those with a health condition or disability and who are unable to carry out everyday activities with ease.