Poll: Should Lord Freud resign after suggesting some disabled people are 'not worth' the minimum wage?

The Tory peer said he had been "foolish" in "accepting the premise" of a question posed to him during a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference last month.

"I would like to offer a full and unreserved apology," he said in a statement. "I was foolish to accept the premise of the question. To be clear, all disabled people should be paid at least the minimum wage, without exception, and I accept that it is offensive to suggest anything else.

"I care passionately about disabled people. I am proud to have played a full part in a Government that is fully committed to helping disabled people overcome the many barriers they face in finding employment."

He added: "I am profoundly sorry for any offence I have caused to any disabled people.

• What do you think? Should Lord Freud resign after suggesting some disabled people are 'not worth' the minimum wage? Vote now in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

David Cameron flatly disowned Lord Freud's remarks when ambushed by Labour leader Ed Miliband at Prime Minister's Questions - and the peer's position has also been called into doubt by a series of Tory MPs.

In the recording, Conservative councillor David Scott, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, expresses concern that some "mentally damaged individuals" who want to work are unable to do so because employers were unwilling to pay them the minimum wage.

Lord Freud replied: "You make a really good point about the disabled. Now I had not thought through, and we have not got a system for, you know, kind of going below the minimum wage.

"There is a group - and I know exactly who you mean - where actually, as you say, they're not worth the full wage and actually I'm going to go and think about that particular issue, whether there is something we can do nationally, and without distorting the whole thing, which actually if someone wants to work for £2 an hour, and it's working can we actually..."

Downing Street confirmed that the Government's policy was that there should be no exceptions to the right to the national minimum wage.

And Mr Cameron told MPs it was "absolutely not" his view that disabled people may not be worth the full rate.

The PM said: "Of course disabled people should be paid the minimum wage and the minimum wage under this Government is going up and going up in real terms.

"It's now at £6.50. We will be presenting our evidence to the Low Pay Commission, calling for another real-terms increase in the minimum wage."

Mr Cameron - whose late son Ivan suffered from a rare genetic condition - insisted that he would not "take lectures" from Labour about looking after disabled people.

But Mr Miliband told him: "Surely someone holding those views can't possibly stay in your Government?"

Employment minister Esther McVey ramped up the pressure on Lord Freud by warning that the comments will "haunt him".