GOVERNMENT ministers have pushed through changes which will see cuts to disabled people’s benefits.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller, North West Hampshire MP Kit Malthouse and North East Hampshire MP Ranil Jayawardena were among the ministers who voted in favour of the cuts to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) benefit

Ministers claimed "financial privilege" to assert the House of Commons' right to have the final say on budgetary measures, which will see a £30-a-week cut to ESA.

Disability rights campaigners Scope believe that the change in benefits will make it more difficult for disabled people to find work and that many struggled to even be able to afford food.

However, the government says the cut, which applies to new claimants, will act as an incentive for disabled people to find work.

The cut will see people receiving ESA go from claiming £103-a-week to £73-a-week, and will affect people who are deemed currently unable to work but are capable of trying to find employment.

After the decision to make the cuts to the ESA was pushed through by the government was pushed through the Independent published a list of MP’s who were in favour of the cuts.