If the Tories really cared about mental health, they’d stop trying to score cheap points

‘There’s virtually no evidence to back Mel Stride’s sweeping claims, which scapegoat disabled people and thinly veil a cold-hearted cost-cutting measure.’ Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Can we all please stop complaining about being miserable and just get on with it? That seemed to be the gist of Mel Stride’s recent remarks on the state of the nation’s ongoing mental health crisis. According to the work and pensions secretary, the mainstream conversation around mental health may have gone “too far”, leading to people self-diagnosing what are, in his mind, the “normal ups and downs of life”.

To add material insult to injury for those of us who experience mental health problems, in the same interview, the minister unveiled a new and dangerous plan to push 150,000 people with “mild” conditions back into work. It’s really very good for our wellbeing, he argued.