UN will still report on Labour’s attacks on rights, despite Trump-fuelled funding crisis

UN experts are still planning to deliver findings on Labour’s attacks on disabled people’s rights, even though a public examination of the UK government had to be abandoned because of a funding crisis fuelled by US president Donald Trump.

The committee on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD) was set to examine UK government representatives in Geneva last month on concerns about Labour’s new benefit cuts bill and its mental health legislation and breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Disabled activists in the UK had contacted the committee in July with serious concerns about both the universal credit bill and the mental health bill.

In response, the UN sent letters to the UK government expressing concerns about the two pieces of legislation, and giving it until 11 August to respond, with the committee set to examine the concerns publicly at the UN in Geneva later in August.

But that public examination had to be cancelled because of the UN’s financial crisis – caused by the continued late or non-payment of dues by member states, particularly the United States and the funding cuts of president Donald Trump – which had led to a “reduction in funds and available support services” across the organisation.

Miyeon Kim, CRPD’s chair, said at the opening of the committee’s 33^rd session on 11 August that the session had been significantly cut back because of the crisis, while there had been mass cancellations of other disability rights work the committee had planned.

The government responded to both CRPD letters last month, disputing the criticisms and insisting that its mental health bill was meeting its obligations under UNCRPD and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The committee’s universal credit bill letter to the UK government had followed intensive efforts by DPO Forum England and other disabled people’s organisations to provide the UN with evidence of the impact of the government’s planned cuts to out-of-work disability benefits.

The committee’s mental health bill letter had followed concerns raised by the user-led, rights-based organisation Liberation, which is run by people with mental health diagnoses.

DPO Forum England said the UK government’s response to the concerns about the universal credit bill was “rife with falsehoods, denial and obfuscation”.

Rick Burgess, the forum’s co-chair, said: “We hope the UN sees through the UK government’s falsehoods and condemns the ongoing assault on our lives and rights.

“There is no change from the grave and systemic abuses previously identified, and in some aspects an intensification of these crimes.”

Dorothy Gould, Liberation’s founder, said she saw the committee’s continuing involvement as “absolutely vital”.

She said: “The government’s mental health bill remains highly discriminatory and its welfare benefit plans are equally devastating.

“In both cases the government has shown itself highly unwilling to address our rights as disabled people under the UNCRPD and has maintained this stance despite fresh concerns expressed by the committee as recently as last year.”

She said the government’s response to the committee on the questions about the mental health bill “lack credibility” and were “deeply disappointing and can only make disabled people feel highly devalued and utterly disrespected”.

She said: “The government’s replies about its welfare benefit plans are equally disturbing; I would find it hard to recognise the picture presented in these against the discriminatory reality of what is actually happening and the traumatic nature of the government’s plans.

“These replies are again shocking, utterly unworthy of the government.

“For all these reasons, I see the committee as having a crucial role to play in monitoring and reviewing what is happening in the UK and calling for meaningful and fundamental changes which genuinely comply with the UNCRPD.

“I could not welcome its continuing involvement more strongly.”

A government spokesperson said: “The UK government is committed to implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to helping disabled people to fulfil their potential.

“We responded to the committee’s letter and await their findings with interest.”

But Burgess said that if the government was committed to implementing UNCRPD “it would not have dropped that commitment at the Labour party conference in 2023 and they would not be implementing policy that breaches our treaty rights.

“Yet again they are dissembling.”

The UN update emerged as right-wing media reported this week that prime minister Sir Keir Starmer would “drive through money-saving welfare reforms” after a reshuffle of his advisers, and “remains determined to overhaul the disability benefits payments system to get more people stuck on long-term sickness back into work”, while “reviving plans to reform welfare” would be a “key focus” of his new Downing Street team.

Meanwhile, DWP has today (Thursday) announced £338 million funding for its Connect to Work programme, which it claims will deliver “localised, tailored support to over 85,000 people who are sick, disabled or face complex barriers to work in 15 areas across England”.

DWP said the scheme provided “intensive, personalised help including individual coaching from employment specialists, job matching services, and ongoing support for both participants and employers to ensure sustainable employment outcomes”.

About 300,000 people across England and Wales will receive support through the scheme over the next five years, says DWP.

The announcement came just hours after the universal credit bill received royal assent and became law.

The act will come into force next April, and it will see cuts to spending on new claimants of the universal credit health element of more than £2 billion-a-year by 2029-30.

By 2029-30, the universal credit bill will see 750,000 new universal credit claimants who cannot work for disability-related reasons have their health element addition frozen at £50 a week, compared to the £97-a-week that existing claimants currently receive.

Just 80,000 – less than 10 per cent of new claimants – will be protected from this cut because they are terminally-ill or qualify for Labour’s new “severe conditions” group.

Picture: The UN headquarters in Geneva, by UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré, and US president Donald Trump

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