Labour and its disability minister appear to be in dispute over assistance dog discrimination at party conference

Labour appears set for a serious disagreement with its own minister for disability, after apparently rejecting his advice about a disabled member who was prevented from attending the party’s annual conference with her assistance dog.

Sir Stephen Timms wrote to the party’s new general secretary on Saturday to raise concerns about the treatment of Anna Morell, a party delegate.

He told Hollie Ridley in the letter that, having taken advice from the Cabinet Office: “It does look to me as if Anna should have been admitted, together with her dog.”

But when Disability News Service checked with the party that it now accepted it had been in the wrong, it instead made it clear – but only in a point “on background”, so it cannot be quoted – that Labour only accepted disabled people with recognised assistance dogs at its annual conference.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has made it clear in guidance – updated in September – that there is no legal requirement for an assistance dog to be trained, that assistance dogs “can also be trained by their owners”, and that the law “does not require the dog to wear a harness or jacket to identify it as an assistance dog”.

It appears, although the party refused to confirm this point this week, that Labour continues to dispute the EHRC guidance.

The incident was the latest example of years of disability discrimination by Labour, which has frequently left the party on the verge of being sued by its own disabled members under the Equality Act.

Morell is actively considering legal action against her own party.

She said in September that she felt like a “third-class citizen” when staff refused to allow her to enter Labour’s conference in Liverpool with her assistance dog Rex.

She was told that the party’s conference policy did not allow service dogs entry without accreditation, registration, or formal training.

Morell, who has an energy-limiting impairment, later raised her concerns from the main stage of the conference in Liverpool (pictured), but without Rex, who plays a key health and safety role for her.

Since the conference, she has been in touch about the incident with Sir Stephen, Labour’s minister for social security and disability.

He wrote to Ridley after obtaining a legal briefing from the Cabinet Office.

He said the Cabinet Office had told him there were “no rules or regulations that make it a requirement for people with assistance dogs to have documentation to enter retail outlets, licensed premises or any other premises of businesses or service providers”.

The Cabinet Office told him that the government “fully supports the principle that guide dogs and assistance dogs should always be allowed access, except in the most exceptional circumstances”.

Sir Stephen told Ridley in the letter: “It does look to me as if Anna should have been admitted, together with her dog.

“Will these difficulties be resolved in time for future Party events?”

Morell is still waiting for a copy of the minutes of a meeting with Labour chiefs about her complaint, in which she was supported by Ellen Morrison, who represents disabled members on Labour’s national executive committee, and a representative of Disability Labour, on the afternoon of the prime minister’s speech at the conference in September.

Morell had been denied permission to record the meeting.

She said this week: “I am astonished and disappointed by the radio silence from the party.

“The law is very clear and I cannot understand why the conference organisers cannot accept this, and change things for next year.

“I cannot understand why there appears to be no will to implement such an important law [the Equality Act] which was brought into being by the same party.

“The strapline at conference this year was ‘change begins’. Does it? Please can it begin for disabled people?”

Labour refused to respond to the points made in Sir Stephen’s letter; refused to say if it accepted that it had been unlawful to prevent Morell’s assistance dog joining her at the conference; refused to comment on its failure to provide minutes from the meeting; and refused to promise that Morell and other disabled people in her position would in future be able to attend the conference with their assistance dogs.

Instead, a Labour party spokesperson said in a statement: “We strive to ensure that all our events are accessible to our disabled members by working with organisations that represent disabled people and provide expert services.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson declined to confirm that Sir Stephen was correct when he suggested that Morell should have been allowed entry with her assistance dog.

She said the Cabinet Office could not comment on the point of law because it related to something that was “part of a political letter”.

But she added: “The government’s general position on disability remains that no one deserves to be held back or treated unfairly because of their disability and that we are determined to tackle barriers and work with disabled people to ensure they have equal access to every opportunity.

“Where individuals are concerned they have been a victim of discrimination, the Equality Advisory and Support Service is there to provide information and advice and it is important that both the government and businesses address the issue to ensure that assistance dog users feel welcome in society.”

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