Chancellor’s disability minister skips all three meetings of group set up by Labour to champion disabled people

The minister who leads on disability for the Treasury has shown “contempt” for disabled people by skipping all three meetings of a ministerial group set up to “champion disability inclusion” across the new Labour government, according to a campaign network.

The meetings of the government’s lead ministers on disability from 19 government departments are intended to “champion disability inclusion and accessibility across each government department”.

The 19 lead ministers* are supposed to “break down barriers to opportunity for disabled people” and fulfil Labour’s manifesto commitment to ensure their departments “put the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of everything they do”.

But for the first three meetings of the group, the lead disability minister for the Treasury, Lord [Spencer] Livermore – who leads on welfare policy for the Treasury and was director of strategy for Gordon Brown when he was prime minister – failed to put in a single appearance.

His failure was described by disabled people’s organisations this week as “profoundly disappointing” and demonstrating the “contempt” the Treasury has for disabled people.

Asked whether this failure showed that championing disability inclusion and accessibility was not a Treasury priority, a Treasury spokesperson told Disability News Service: “The financial secretary to the Treasury is kept updated regularly by officials on issues within the disability brief.”

Four other departments failed to attend any of the three meetings in December 2024, March 2025 and June 2025, according to information released by the government to Disability News Service (DNS) under the Freedom of Information Act.

These four departments were the Department for Business and Trade (DBT); the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA); and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

But there was particular concern from disabled people’s organisations at the failure of the Treasury’s lead disability minister to attend the meetings and show commitment from his department to disability equality and co-production.

The Treasury, under chancellor Rachel Reeves, has been blamed for forcing through billions of pounds of cuts to disability benefits, with more likely to come, according to reports in right-wing media this week.

Mark Harrison, a member of the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance steering group, said: “It just shows the contempt the Treasury has for disabled people.

“They were too busy working out how they can rob our rights and benefits to turn up to a meeting, despite the commitments in the Labour manifesto.

“This evidences what we have experienced in the first year of this government – that disabled people are not a priority.

“In fact, we have experienced the opposite – we are seen as a problem to be dealt with by cutting our rights and benefits.

“It’s no wonder ministers don’t show up, because if they do there will be new demands from the Treasury to cut our services.”

He added: “This government has no progressive strategy or policy, developed with or without disabled people, and is trying to ‘window dress’ by pretending there are meaningful things happening.

“If they are serious, they will engage the leadership of accountable disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) to coproduce strategy and policies which can then be implemented and monitored across government.

“The various ministers and representatives of departments will then have activities and targets to report against and be held accountable for.

“We need a serious approach, not this smokescreen which doesn’t fool anybody.”

Caroline Collier, from Inclusion Barnet’s Campaign for Disability Justice, said: “Everyone needs the means to live, and we know from our supporters that at the time when these meetings were being deprioritised by key departments, many disabled people were terrified by the proposed cuts.

“It is, therefore, profoundly disappointing that key representatives, particularly from the Treasury, were absent.

“‘Updates’ are not sufficient when you are making decisions that can totally change people’s lives.

“We need more than lip service from this government around disability rights – we need to see real commitment and action.

“And that starts with the appointed representatives showing up and taking their responsibilities seriously.

“At the Campaign for Disability Justice, we will be urging government to do better going forward.”

DBT said its lead minister, Justin Madders, was either attending committee stages of bills or preparing for parliamentary stages of government bills he was responsible for, on the dates of each of the three meetings.

A DHSC spokesperson said the 1pm December meeting had been moved at the last minute, and its lead disability minister, Stephen Kinnock, had been on a ministerial visit to a special school in the morning and was travelling back to Westminster, while in March he had been speaking for the government during the committee stage of the assisted suicide bill, and the June meeting had clashed with a debate on dementia care.

DCMS said that its lead disability minister, Stephanie Peacock, had to attend a select committee meeting at the time of the December meeting, was speaking in a Commons debate in March, and had to attend the Commons committee stage of the football governance bill at the time of the June meeting.

DEFRA said its lead disability minister Emma Hardy could not attend the December meeting because it was rescheduled at short notice and clashed with business she could not move; while in March she was on a pre-arranged visit to the River Wye as part of the government’s efforts to clean up rivers, lakes and seas; and in June she was speaking at the Flood and Coast Conference in Telford, which again was pre-arranged.

*The list names 18 departments, and omits the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, whose lead disability minister Rushanara Ali attended both the March and June meetings

Picture: The Treasury and Lord Livermore

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