Well, that started to go pear shaped pretty quickly didn’t it?
Only a few days after Sir Stephen Timms as the new minister for disabled people stated that he would: “… ensure disabled people’s views and voices are at the heart of all we do”, we’re already getting a strong indication that this isn’t the case.
The first example concerns The Disability Action plan which was launched in February by Mims Davies, the then Tory minister for disabled people, following a 12-week public consultation. This, they claimed would improve the lives of disabled people’s throughout the UK.
Now the new Labour government is refusing to release information that would confirm how little the last government was planning to spend on this much-criticised short-term plan.
As stated in a recent Disability News Service (DNS) article, the refusal is important, because it adds to evidence collected by them that the new Labour government is set to continue the Conservative policy of refusing to release key information about its policies to address disability inequality.
The Conservative government claimed earlier this year that its plan set out the “immediate action” it would take in 2024 to “improve disabled people’s lives, laying the foundations for longer term change, and complementing the long-term vision set out in [its National Disability Strategy]”.
However, all 32 actions outlined in the Plan appeared to be low – or zero-budget measures, and the plan was described by disabled people’s organisations as “lacklustre”, “weak”, and just a list of “empty promises”.
Hmm … empty promises, just like those made by Sir Timms earlier?!
You can read the full story in DSN.
Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software
A group of disabled people carrying a DPAC banner are in the shadow of an ivory tower. They are looking very unhappy. At the top of the tower is Therese Coffey, Sir Stephen Timms and Kier Starmer. A large sign hanging from the top of the tower reads ‘under new management’. Coffey, who is looking down on the disabled people is saying to the two Labour politicians: “All you have to do is to just continue the Tory policy of ignoring them!” Starmer is saying: “Works for me!”
Crippen Cartoons 