Politics

Jackie Doyle-Price shaking hands with Theresa May

October 18, 2018 0

New ‘suicide prevention’ minister evades questions on ESA suicide stats

The new “minister for suicide prevention” has refused to say if she will alert agencies across the country to NHS figures that show the high risk of suicide faced by claimants of out-of-work disability benefits. Last week, mental health minister Jackie Doyle-Price had “minister for suicide prevention” added to her job title, with prime

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Sarah Newton standing and talking, beside four men sitting down behind a table

October 4, 2018 0

Tory conference: Disability charities face questions over Conservative links

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Two disability charities are facing questions over their close links to the Conservative party, after they failed to challenge the minister for disabled people about government policies at a conference fringe event. Both Bipolar UK and the Epilepsy Society have close links with the party, Disability News Service has established. Bipolar UK’s chief executive

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Sarah Newton standing and speaking, alongside four men sitting down, with words behind her on the screen about listening to disabled people

October 4, 2018 0

Tory conference: Newton ‘breaches ministerial code’ while dodging questions

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The minister for disabled people appears to have breached the ministerial code of conduct, after refusing to answer questions at her party’s annual conference and suggesting that civil servants could answer them for her instead. Sarah Newton’s office had failed to respond to emails requesting an interview sent in advance of the conference by

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October 4, 2018 0

MPs help WOW win fight for second Commons debate

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Campaigners have won their fight to persuade MPs to hold a second debate in the House of Commons on the need for the government to assess the overall damage caused to disabled people by years of austerity cuts. The announcement that a debate will take place is a victory for members of the WOW

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September 27, 2018 0

Labour conference: De Cordova calls for a ‘Labour alternative’ to universal credit

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Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people has called on her party to come up with its own alternative to the government’s flawed universal credit benefit system. Marsha de Cordova (pictured) moved further this week than any of her shadow frontbench colleagues at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool towards the idea of scrapping universal credit

Politics

September 27, 2018 0

Labour conference: Anger as party awards unions half of votes for disability elections

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Disabled members of the Labour party are angry that new plans to elect a disabled representative to a key party body will see half of the votes in the election given to unions. Members of the executive of Disability Labour, which is affiliated to the party, want to see elections for the new seat

Politics

September 20, 2018 0

Lib Dem conference: Party anger over DPAC’s ‘don’t vote Lib Dem’ call

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Two leading disabled Liberal Democrats have criticised anti-cuts activists over their public call for disabled people not to vote for their party. Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) published a high-profile message on social media this week during the party’s annual conference in Brighton, warning that disabled people “won’t forget” and “won’t forgive” its junior

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Stephen Lloyd sitting next to Baroness Thomas who is speaking into a microphone

September 20, 2018 0

Lib Dem conference: Lloyd backtracks on support for Duncan Smith

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A Liberal Democrat MP who has supported Tory former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has admitted he gave him “more benefit of the doubt” than he should have done during the five years of the coalition government. Stephen Lloyd, who served on the Commons work and pensions committee while Liberal Democrat ministers

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Jared O'Mara reading from a piece of paper in the Commons chamber

September 13, 2018 0

Autistic MP calls for change in equality laws to make parliament less hostile

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An autistic MP who has only been able to make two speeches in the main Commons chamber since being elected is calling for a change in equality laws to force the authorities to make parliament a more accessible place to work. Jared O’Mara has had a series of requests rejected by the authorities that

Politics

September 13, 2018 0

Disability Labour set for fresh start after angry scenes at agm

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Disabled Labour activists have succeeded in a takeover of the organisation set up to build links between the party and the disability movement. During a heated annual general meeting (agm) of Disability Labour at a Leeds hotel on Saturday, the entire 15-strong slate of candidates from the Disability Equality Act Labour (DEAL) campaign group

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