Lib Dem conference: Rising star calls on their party to ‘walk the walk’ on disability

A disabled rising star in the Liberal Democrats has spoken of their plans to ensure their party does more to draw on the creativity and unique contribution that disabled people can make to politics.

Among their plans, Katharine Macy is hoping to push their party towards drawing up a wide-ranging disability policy paper, and to fund training for disabled members who want to become MPs.

Macy (pictured), who chairs the Liberal Democrat Disability Association (LDDA), played a significant role in developing the party’s policies on carers that were central to this summer’s successful general election campaign.

They are now hoping to help put together a policy paper on disability in time for next autumn’s conference.

Speaking at this week’s party conference in Brighton, Macy said they hope some of the extra funding the party now has because of its election success – with 72 MPs elected in July – is “directed to diversity” and ensures the party are “putting their money where their mouth is”.

They told Disability News Service (DNS): “We talk the talk, and we need to make sure that we’re going to walk the walk.

“It’s been a really good conference, and I think everyone is really eager to go, ‘what next?’  but not just in terms of the basic political successes, but in terms of making sure we are more diverse.”

Macy, who stood for the party in Colne Valley at the general election, said the policies in any disability paper would have to be “realistic”, fully-costed, “Liberal”, and “radical and forward-thinking”.

Some of them are certain to focus on benefits.

They said: “If we sort the benefits system out, a lot of disabled people who are on benefits will be able to have the safety and security to start exploring getting into work, if that’s what they are able to do.”

Macy drafted the party’s original young carers policy in 2019, at a Young Liberals event, which later led to them thanking Ed Davey – who himself had been a young carer as a teenager when his mother was terminally-ill with cancer – for writing an article about the motion when it was debated at a national level by the party.

That motion kickstarted Davey’s focus on care and was a cornerstone of the party’s manifesto at the last election.

Macy said: “It was lovely to hear there was an MP who understands what it’s like being a carer.

“And then the 2024 election was all about that, and words that I had written at the age of 21 were directly copied and pasted into the manifesto.”

They wrote the party’s young carers’ policy and helped amend the overall carers’ policy that followed later, which included a call in the election manifesto for carers to be protected under the Equality Act, which Macy said was “something I’ve been pushing for for years”.

There are also crucial intersectional issues they have been able to draw attention to, as carers are far more likely to be disabled themselves than the general population.

They are full of praise for their party leader, who they say is “incredibly brave to be so vulnerable, to be so honest” about his own experiences as a carer for both his mother and now his disabled son.

Macy has previously told DNS – in a profile published shortly before the general election – of their own experience, from the age of about 10, of growing up with an undiagnosed neurodivergent mother who was unable to work.

They have been using their time at conference this week to “really push disability, ensure that I’m talking to the right people, and getting ideas on how to make sure the party is held to account” on disability issues and that disabled members “are being taken seriously”.

One aspect is pushing for there to be a disabled representative on all the party’s policy working groups “to ensure we’re represented”.

They said: “We aren’t just people that are living on benefits and go to healthcare centres.

“We get educated, we work, we go and have fun sometimes, and we need to be remembered.

“I do think the Lib Dems are the best party on this, but… that doesn’t mean we can’t get better. And we will get better, if I’ve got anything to do about it.”

Macy added: “I’d really like to focus on how disabled people can bring something unique to politics.

“We see the world differently, partly sometimes because we physically have to… but also because we have to be creative, and creativity in politics is vital.”

One of their hopes is to reach out to disabled people who are not currently party members.

Another key focus is developing training for disabled members who want to become MPs, emulating a “gender balance” scheme that has trained 28 of the 32 women who are Liberal Democrat MPs.

Macy said: “Obviously, there are a lot more literal barriers with disabled people.

“It’s not as simple as building confidence and teaching how to manage discrimination, but I’m going to give it a go.”

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