Sir Keir Starmer’s team had expressed an interest moving into the Greenwood Centre in Kentish Town [New Journal]

SIR Keir Starmer has been blocked from moving his constituency office into a building run by a disabled organisation.

The prime minister – who is also the MP for Holborn and St Pancras – was told by the charity’s members that the request was “ill-timed” and “inappropriate” following Labour’s recent welfare cuts.

Mr Starmer’s operation is leaving its base in the Crowndale Centre in Camden Town and is looking for a new venue. But an enquiry about switching it to offices in the Greenwood Centre in  Kentish Town went down like a lead balloon ­– as it was submitted just days after the government had announced it would be tightening who can qualify personal independence payments (PIP).

The Greenwood is run as an independent living centre by Camden Disability Action (CDA).

Its chair of trustees, Pat Stack, said it does not have veto powers on which organisations rent rooms in the centre as it is funded by Camden Council, but the charity had been asked if it had a view.

“The timing of it couldn’t have been worse. You just think, how could you possibly think this is ok three or four days after these cuts out of the blue?,” Mr Stack said.

“We run an advice service for people on benefits. We would literally have clients distressed about what’s happened walking through the same doors as the people who’d actually introduced these cuts.”

He added it would “seem inappropriate” to be seen as “welcoming Labour”.

Pat Stack at the Greenwood Centre [New Journal]

Mr Starmer’s constituency office later decided not to move its office there. It was the first tenant to be objected to by CDA. Mr Stack said he was “stunned” when Labour introduced the cuts and said many people who use the Greenwood Centre have been left “frightened and stressed” by the announcement.

He said: “Both our members and the disabled community in Camden would have thought it very strange if we hadn’t raised an objection to it.

“I suspect large numbers of disabled people voted Labour after years of being attacked by the Tories and then, suddenly, Labour do this. And there was no mention of any of this in the manifesto.

“PIP has nothing to do with whether you work or not. That benefit is available to people who do work. People may have jobs, but they have all sorts of extra expenses as a result of your disability that people who don’t have disabilities don’t have. “I’m not saying we’re just angry about PIP. We’re angry about the whole thing.”

CDA invited Mr Starmer and Hampstead and Highgate MP Tulip Siddiq to speak to members about the cuts.

Mr Starmer said he was unable to attend and Ms Siddiq initially accepted but then dropped out.

A spokesperson for Ms Siddiq said: “Unfortunately, Tulip now has a parliamentary commitment that day which she is unable to get out of and is no longer able to attend. She is very concerned to make sure that residents have the support that they need and has offered immediate advice surgeries to any CDA members who live in Hampstead and Highgate.”

MP Tulip Siddiq cancelled a plan to talk to the charity about the cuts [New Journal]

It is not known where Mr Starmer’s constituency service will now be run, and security is a key issue. He was at the Vatican City over the weekend alongside other world leaders for the Pope Francis’s funeral.

The New Journal was unable to reach him this week.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has previously said: “Our social security system must be there for all of us when we need it, now and into the future. “Millions of people have been locked out of work, and we can do better for them. Disabled people and those with health conditions who can work deserve the same choices and chances as everyone else.”