Minister ‘must quit’ over disabled comment

Labour has called for the resignation of welfare minister Lord Freud after he was recorded suggesting that some disabled people were “not worth” the minimum wage.

Ed Miliband told the House of Commons the remarks, made at the Conservative Party conference earlier this month, showed the “nasty party is back”.

Prime Minister David Cameron insisted that he would not “take lectures” from Labour about looking after disabled people.

But Lord Freud, who is a great-grandson of Sigmund Freud, was looking far from safe after Downing Street made clear that the Prime Minister will want to consider the context of his remarks before deciding whether he should quit.

Asked if it was a resigning matter, a senior No 10 source said: “I think it’s fair to say that the Prime Minister will want to hear the full context of what happened and he will also want to hear what Lord Freud will say about it.”