SCOTS with disabilities face a “deficit of dignity” under the jiggery-pokery of Britain’s benefit system, an MSP warned yesterday.

The chair of Holyrood’s welfare reform committee urged ordinary people to “shine a light” on the coalition’s latest welfare wheeze by giving evidence to his panel.

Labour’s Michael McMahon said he wanted to hear first-hand experiences of claiming the Con-Dems’ new “personal independence payment” (PIP) — launched in 2011 after axing the longstanding disability living allowance.

“By asking those who have experienced PIP to contact us, we hope to be able to shine a light on the reality of life for many welfare claimants with a disability,” he said.

“What we have seen with our evidence sessions on the bedroom tax, work capability assessments and benefit sanctions is that people claiming benefits feel victimised.

“I hope our evidence on PIP does not reveal such a deficit of dignity but I fear that hope could be in vain.”

The scheme has long been a lightning rod for disability campaigners, with one group bringing a judicial review against the scheme last June over its new “mobility component.”

Where the test had previously been whether the claimant could move 50m or more without aid or rest, the new scheme slashed that distance to just 20m — leaving tens of thousands of former claimants out of pocket.

In 2010 the Morning Star revealed that Tory ministers had misled the public about the scheme’s original consultation by saying disability organisations “welcomed” the policy.

A sample of 500 submissions obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found 74 per cent were expressly against scrapping the allowance.