Disabled public figures behind a new campaign to persuade the government to back down on its “inhumane and catastrophic” plans to cut billions of pounds from disability benefits say they are overwhelmed by the response since its launch.
Tuesday’s launch saw 100 disabled actors, artists, journalists, academics and activists publish an open letter to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The letter led to widespread publicity, including national newspaper coverage and broadcast interviews.
The disabled activists at the centre of the #TakingThePip campaign said last night that the response to the campaign had been “overwhelming”, with many more disabled public figures already adding their names to the letter.
They said: “We came together to highlight all of the proposed cuts to disability benefits – support that is vital for disabled people to live, work and thrive.
“There are already so many incredible organisations, movements, and individuals who’ve spent years fighting tirelessly for the rights of disabled people.
“As public figures, our role is to amplify those efforts, shine a spotlight on these proposed cuts, and bring as much mainstream attention to these issues as possible.
“We are united in this fight and the more of us who raise our voices, the louder we become.”
The campaign follows protests across Britain, disabled-led campaign coalitions, research, and last week’s mass lobby of MPs, in the two months since Labour’s Pathways to Work green paper was published.
The letter particularly focuses on the billions of pounds of cuts to personal independence payment and the disability element of universal credit, and it warns that the government’s plans will “deepen social exclusion and increase disability-related deaths”, and lead to homelessness.
It says the cuts have caused “tears and sleepless nights”, with disabled people “unsure how they will survive”.
The letter demands that the government “immediately” withdraws the cuts and instead engages “meaningfully” with disabled people and disabled-led organisations to “co-design a fair, compassionate, and sustainable benefits system that supports, not punishes, disabled lives”.
Among those who signed the letter are award-winning writer Jack Thorne, comedian Rosie Jones, actors Rose Ayling-Ellis, Liz Carr, Ruth Madeley, Mat Fraser, Cherylee Houston and Lisa Hammond, musician Dame Evelyn Glennie, scriptwriter William Mager, and comedians Jack Carroll and Lee Ridley.
The campaign’s website provides sample posts that can be shared on social media, parliamentary petitions to sign, and letter templates to allow disabled people and allies to write to their MPs.
Picture: (From left to right) Rosie Jones, Liz Carr and Lisa Hammond
A note from the editor:
Please consider making a voluntary financial contribution to support the work of DNS and allow it to continue producing independent, carefully-researched news stories that focus on the lives and rights of disabled people and their user-led organisations.
Please do not contribute if you cannot afford to do so, and please note that DNS is not a charity. It is run and owned by disabled journalist John Pring and has been from its launch in April 2009.
Thank you for anything you can do to support the work of DNS…
Scores of DWP failings linked to deaths were kept from MPs voting on benefit cuts, secret reports reveal
DWP staff ignored rules on how to respond to claimants who report suicidal thoughts, secret reports reveal
Changes to energy bill discount scheme will discriminate against many disabled people, campaigners warn