A Tory MP has apologised for telling a man who complained about the UK's £94-a-week sick pay rate to "get a life".
Pauline Latham issued the statement today after she replied to a constituent on Twitter with the blunt advice.
The man, with the Twitter handle @ML1Hughes, had messaged the Mid Derbyshire MP on Saturday asking: "Is £94 a week SSP is enough to live on? How could you manage on it?".
She replied: "Get a life."
Ms Latham said today in a statement from her office: "I must apologise for the Tweet a constituent over the weekend.
"At the time, I was in Spain in a state of distress having just visited my brother who is suffering from acute dementia.
"Very sadly, we could not bring him home to the UK because of Coronavirus.
"At this time of stress, I received a Tweet from what I perceived to be a keyboard warrior and it pushed me over the edge.
"I am very sorry I reacted so hastily."
It comes after calls on the government to ramp up the rate of Statutory Sick Pay after Tory Chancellor refused to say if he could live on it.
Rishi Sunak last week announced he will refund firms the costs of Statutory Sick Pay for two weeks.
He will also speed up access to sick benefit ESA; remove the Minimum Income Floor in Universal Credit and suspend the need to turn up in person at a Jobcentre.
But he defied pleas by unions to make Statutory Sick Pay more generous or extend it to more people.
The £94.25 payment is still not available to the self-employed or people who earn under £118 a week.
As well as that, unions say the level of the payment is one of the least generous systems in Europe.
Mr Sunak is due to unveil a fresh package of measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak later today.
He is facing urgent calls from pubs, clubs and restaurants to help them survive after PM Boris Johnson announced people should now avoid the venues at all costs.
