( Click on the party name to go directly to that section)
Obviously we’re not going to tell anyone who they should vote for and DPAC is not aligned to any political party. It’s also difficult to say who anyone should vote for as the choices on offer are very limited.
Here is a list of 100 crucial seats that are likely to determine the outcome of the election.
https://i100.independent.co.uk/article/these-are-the-100-seats-that-could-decide-the-general-election–l12rrqj_se
So first of all the easier part and who not to vote for:
We’ve had 5 years of the Tories as part of a Condem coalition which has stripped disabled people’s rights away day after day. Now the Tories say they want to remove a further £12 billion from the welfare bill but are refusing to say what they will cut or who they will hurt when doing this.
They also want to scrap the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European convention on Human Rights.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/election-2015-tories-refuse-to-say-which-human-rights-they-will-dump/
Voting Tory is a very bad idea if you’re disabled or a family carer. When voting you should perhaps consider voting strategically where you live to make sure the Tories do not get back into government. Although last time they took power without being elected anyhow.
There’s little more to say about UKIP than we have already. Disabled people really shouldn’t vote UKIP but John Pring from Disability News Service has been trying very hard to get some sense from their disability spokesperson Star Etheridge – so far without success. This is what John wrote last week
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/election-2015-ukips-silence-on-un-disability-convention/
UKIP is refusing to say whether it is in favour of key sections of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
Last week, its election manifesto made it clear that UKIP supported article 19 of the convention, which outlines the “equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others”.
The manifesto adds: “We wholly endorse the right of the disabled to access in-home, residential and community support services and we support their inclusion in our communities.”
But despite repeated attempts this week by Disability News Service to secure a response from the party, particularly from its disability spokeswoman, Star Etheridge, UKIP has failed to say whether it supports other articles in the convention.
These include sections focusing on the right to: accessibility; life; personal mobility; freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; access to justice; freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse; respect for privacy; and liberty of movement and nationality.
In an interview with Disability News Service two years ago, Etheridge distanced herself from some of the party’s previous discriminatory policies, and suggested there would be a “radical change” in its approach at the 2015 general election.
Etheridge, who is disabled herself, has also refused to provide further details on UKIP’s plans to scrap the Care Quality Commission – which inspects and regulates the NHS and social care – and replace its inspectors with locally-elected health and social care officials on new county health boards.
DNS contacted Etheridge by email on Monday (23 April), and later followed up by phone and through a Facebook message, as well as with a call to the UKIP press office, but she and the party failed to respond.
Etheridge, who is standing for election in Wolverhampton North East, did have time on Thursday to post a series of pictures about a bunch of flowers she had been sent by an anonymous admirer, and to tell her Facebook followers about her plans to visit the hairdresser “to get my hair and nails done” before an evening hustings event.
The previous day, her many Facebook posts included comments on aliens, the need for capital punishment for paedophiles, a family expedition to buy a new suit, and her son’s taste in music.
Some further reading about UKIP and their extreme views can be found in the links below
For the past 5 years they have supported the Tories in making the cuts that have adversely affected disabled people’s lives. They have sat quietly while savage attacks against our human rights have been made and have been willing to sell our lives in exchange for their own power.They made many pre-election promises in 2010 all of which have been broken, most notorious of which is of course no increase in tuition fees.
Their mini-manifesto for disabled people includes -:Simplifying benefits for disabled people bringing Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and Employment Support Allowances (ESA) into one easily accessible fund
Ensure tenants who need an extra bedroom for genuine medical reasons are entitled to one in any assessment of their Housing Benefit needs
Encourage employers to shortlist any qualified disabled candidate and provide advice about workplace adaptation – (but nothing about actually employing them.)
Formally recognise British Sign Language as an official language of the United Kingdom
Tackle disability hate crime by ensuring proper monitoring of incidents by police forces and other public authorities
You can read the whole thing at http://www.libdemvoice.org/liberal-democrats-launch-manifesto-for-disabled-people-45596.html
Their own president however says she’s astonished that this manifesto does not provide protection for disabled people’s benefits.
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/election-2015-lib-dem-president-astonished-at-manifestos-disability-benefits-failure/
Responses to our Election “Asks”
Our election asks from parties can be found here https://dpac.uk.net/2015/01/dpac-who2vote4-upcoming-dpac-revenge-tour/
We have responses to this from the Green Party and Labour Party only.
Green Party Manifesto https://www.greenparty.org.uk/we-stand-for/2015-manifesto.html
Green Party – Responses to DPAC
A Legal Right to Independent Living and Self-Determination:
The creation of a specific independent living law: a legal right that fully enacts and enforces, as domestic law, the UNCRPD incorporating the 12 pillars of independent living as its key goals and ensures provision of independent living support is free at the point of need and paid from general taxation.
- The Green Party supports the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People and our policy is to extend UK legislation to ensure that disabled people are treated as full citizens with protection against any discrimination. It is our policy to strengthen the Disability Rights Commission. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html#DY400
- Our manifesto will undertake to support the principles of and enforce the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRDP)
There should be a single nationally transportable social care system and an end to localism and the current postcode lottery that exists. Funding for care should return to a 4 tier rather than a 2 tier system with low and moderate needs being met for all as well as substantial and critical.
- The Green Party believes that personal care and support for disabled people should be provided free of cost. This would include any expenses incurring from having a disability, such as communication aids, mobility aids, mental health support and others. Green MP Caroline Lucas has fought for quality care through The Care Act. She believes that quality care should be accessible to those who need it and has stated that: “More government funding needs to be directed towards providing quality care.” https://www.carolinelucas.com/issues/social-care
Stop the closure of the cost effective Independent Living Fund (ILF) and set up an Independent living task force, co-produced with ILF users, to review independent living and specifically the Independent Living Fund in order to identify how best to improve, develop and extend independent living support building on the successful model of ILF provision.
- The Green Party opposes the closure of the Independent Living Fund, which 18,000 severely disabled people rely on. Currently, Caroline Lucas has supported and co-sponsored Early day Motion (655) which supports the campaign to save the ILF. She also ‘seconded’ a motion to stop the closing of the ILF in Parliament. https://www.carolinelucas.com/latest/save-the-independent-living-fund
Legislation to end 15 minute home care visits and any move to replace face-to-face visits with telecare options.
- Green Party policy notes that “people in need, who receive a service, too often receive a minimal service… The inadequate provision puts stress on both carers and those providing the service”. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/sw.html para SW104
- We do not have a specific policy on these moves but our policy states that care packages must reflect people’s needs, as determined through a comprehensive assessment including the individual receiving care.https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/sw.html para SW606
An end to zero hour contracts for home care staff.
Serious changes should be made to how family carers are better supported both financially and practically.
- The Green Party would substantially increase the Carers’ Allowance.
- Green MP Caroline Lucas has spoken out in support of carers, and was named as a patron of the Carers Centre for Brighton and Hove in recognition of this. She is fighting cuts to care visits, and seeking adequate care leave giving carers a right to 5-10days paid annual leave. https://www.carolinelucas.com/issues/social-care
Access to Health and Support Services: NHS funding must be protected and all forms of privatisation of our NHS should end with immediate effect.
- The Green Party is absolutely committed to opposing, and reversing, any privatisation of the NHS. We support a publicly funded NHS free at the point of delivery.
Funding for mental health services including crisis teams should be protected and where necessary increased to former and safer levels. There should be an end of rationing of primary MH care services and treatment tailored to needs.
More funding investment is needed for children’s adolescent mental health services.
GP and nurse training should include compulsory training on mental health conditions and treatment.
- The Green Party would increase resources for mental health provision, including training new staff, to bring down waiting times and ensure that all cost-effective treatments are available to all those who need them.
There must be changes made to the Mental Capacity Act which is failing people it is supposed to protect. The Best Interests concept means that substitute decision making has become the default position rather than supporting people who are disabled or have Learning Difficulties to make their own decisions.
- The Green Party has not taken a specific position on this Act but our policy states that: ‘The Green Party would always seek to ensure the emphasis is placed on enabling and empowering people to make choices about their lives’. In general we believe that it is the duty of society to adjust so that disabled people can fully participate, not for disabled people to adjust to society or to be excluded.https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/sw.html paras SW611 and https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html#DY200.
Welfare Support: There must be a publicly run welfare system and an end to paying private firms massive amounts of public money to carry out disability assessments badly. Instead that money should be invested into providing decent, liveable benefit levels.
- The Green Party would seek to end the system whereby external contractors are able to assess whether people are fit to work and we would return to the system of relying on General Practitioners to see if people are capable of working.
An end to the Work Capability Assessment which is too flawed to amend.
An immediate end to benefit sanctions which have led to deaths and increasing poverty. Ensure that there is no conditionality of JSA or ESA WRGA on seeking treatments and no linkage with treatment and receipt of benefits.
Engagement with any back to work services must be optional for all claimants.
- The Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett spoke out against benefit sanctions over the recent Christmas period, calling them “savage and random”. We would implement significant reforms to the benefits system to ensure that it provides a real safety net and a decent standard of living for those who need it.
An end to replacing Disability Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payments which even now is in complete chaos.
A total rethink on any move to Universal Credit and instead serious consideration to be given working with disabled people and DPOs to a move to a single system of welfare support based on the concept of a disabled person’s citizens income.
Policy recognition that there will always be disabled people who are unable or too ill to work. These individuals must be supported by a publically funded system
- If the Green Party were to be elected we would consult on the introduction of a universal Basic Income, which if implemented would be paid at a higher level for disabled people. There would be no reduction in the total amount of money spent on disability, and no disabled person would receive less than they do currently under any new arrangements.
Housing: A strategic and sustained programme of building social housing to the standards of universal design and accessibility is carried out.
- Our manifesto is yet to be fully finalised but is likely to include an undertaking to recognise fully the housing needs of people who are disabled.
An end to bedroom tax and the Benefit Cap.
Until there are adequate levels of social housing available an increase in LHA rates to fully reflect the real costs of housing to meet the needs of disabled people and disabled children.
Access, Inclusion and taking part in society: The creation of legal status for British Sign Language, and disabled people’s access on an equal basis with others to the physical environment, to transportation, justice, family life, the arts, to accessible information and all forms of information technology.
- The Green Party takes a social view of disability. Our view is that society must adjust to include the disabled, allowing disabled people equal access to employment, education, social life and the political sphere. See https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html. We place a high priority on accessible transport and believe public transport must be accessible to all people. https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/tr.html#TR010.
- We have not taken a specific position on BSL but the Green Party is committed to doing all we can to support deaf people and the hard of hearing and extending access to information for deaf people. Caroline Lucas, Green MP, has said that “We aim to be the leading party in providing access of information for deaf people through for example British sign language.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4lC1vvm-d8
- Furthermore, Caroline Lucas MP supported Disabled Access Day in Parliament through an Early Day Motion. This Day promotes visits by disabled people to cultural centres, sights and other venues which they have not previously visited. https://www.edms.org.uk/2014-15/700.htm
Enact and maintain a fully accessible public transport system with free transport available for disabled people.
Fully Inclusive Education: Education is the key to creating an inclusive society. This can only be achieved by having one fully inclusive mainstream education system, funded by the state. Without inclusive education you will not get an inclusive society
- The Green Party absolutely supports a fully inclusive education system, and would require schools to make provision to educate students with different needs and abilities alongside one another. Our policy states that: ‘All schools will be deemed to be all-ability schools. We support the statutory duty of all school to provide for the needs of any child’ and that ‘training and support services will recognise that individuals with different abilities may need different facilities and approaches’. We believe this is in the best interests of all children. We would support specialist resource centres within schools for those children who need to be in a different environment than the main classroom, on a short or long term basis. See https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html#DY600 and https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/ed.html.
Planned cuts to Disabled Students’ Allowance should be reversed
- We are calling for the immediate reversal of the DSA reforms that will result in fewer numbers of disabled students benefiting from higher education.
- Martin Dobson, Parliamentary candidate for Liverpool, has pledged to support the NUS in their efforts to stop cuts to Disabled Students Allowance, describing the cuts as short-sighted and cruel.
All Disabled People have a right to Work and get a Job: A comprehensive plan of action is developed with disabled people and our organisations to tackle the discrimination and exclusion disabled people face in work and employment
- We believe that disabled people should be guaranteed the full enjoyment of human rights and freedoms without discrimination. We would extend present UK legislation to ensure that disabled people are treated as full citizens with protection against any discrimination. We would support and improve legislation to make it an offence to harass or discriminate directly or indirectly against people at work, on grounds including disability. See https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/dy.html#DY400 and https://policy.greenparty.org.uk/wr.html#WR321
- Caroline Lucas, Green MP, has sponsored a bill that will recognise for the first time the need for carers and people with disabilities to have the right services in place to allow them to remain in, or join, the workforce. https://www.carolinelucas.com/issues/social-care
Access to Work (AtW) must be extended to include unpaid voluntary positions and recent changes that limit and reduce the support provided through AtW should be reversed.
Access to Justice: All legal aid changes must be repealed and disabled people’s rights to access justice must be restored
- We would restore legal aid and reverse the cuts.
Disability Hate Crime laws and sentencing must be strengthened.
- Green Party policy states that: WR321 the Green Party will support and improve legislation to make it an offence to harass or discriminate directly or indirectly against people at work on grounds including disability.
Real and Effective Co-Production with user-led Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations across the UK: Ensure meaningful, well-resourced and accessible co-production with disabled people and their organisations at local, regional and national levels on all issues affecting us.
Comments – All of this seems good but the Green Party also at the moment support assisted dying.
link to the accessible versions of the Labour manifesto: https://www.labour.org.uk/pages/disability-access
Response to DPAC from Kate Green, Labour Spokesperson for disabled people
These policies link to your requests and include:
- Making hate crimes against disabled people specific criminal offences, improving guidance to the police, CPS and for sentences, and taking action against targeting of disabled children;
- Overhauling the Work Capability Assessment;
- Getting a grip of Personal Independence Payments;( by this she means reducing the waiting times for new claims and not scrapping PIP.)
- Introducing a new locally contracted specialist programme of Work Support to replace the failing Work Programme and help disabled people to find and keep employment;
- Scrapping the bedroom tax; and
- Fulfilling our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ensuring disabled people have a real say in the policies that affect them, and undertaking rigorous equality impact assessments of all policy proposals.
Turning to some of your other specific asks, Labour has announced plans to integrate health and social care services to improve the support disabled people receive. Disabled people must be included in the process to help shape the integration, and our aim will be to ensure all health and social care service users receive quality support – including disabled people.
As you know, the ILF is being closed by the coalition, with funding transferring to local authorities, and the Fund has been shut to new users since 2010. Labour is determined to protect the most severely disabled people, and we will provide guidance for councils to ensure this. We will also insist that any changes to care packages must be closely monitored by local authorities for their effect on disabled people’s ability to live independently. In addition, our plans to integrate health and social care will address the care gap, and we are committed to acting to address the ’15 minute’ care visits. We will invest in 8,000 more doctors, 20,000 more nurses and 5,000 more care staff with ‘Time to Care’, and I personally support the Unison charter on care services which is being adopted by some councils and specifically addresses this issue. The charter also covers zero hour contracts for care workers – Labour is committed to tackling abuse of zero hour contracts.
On mental health care I am sure you know that Ed Miliband has highlighted the neglect of mental health services under the current Government and laid out Labour’s plans for improving support. Ed launched Labour’s plans when the independent taskforce on mental health published its report. Further information on this issue is available at: https://press.labour.org.uk/post/108531998979/ed-miliband-commits-the-next-government-to-a
Rachel Reeves has stated that under Labour, there will be no targets for sanctioning benefit recipients, so that the system is focused on helping people back to work, not simply kicking them off benefits. Jobcentres are vital public services that British citizens pay for with their taxes. People who use them have as much right to expect fair and respectful treatment as patients in an NHS hospital, parents dealing with their child’s school, or victims reporting a crime at a police station.
Labour are also committed to an immediate review of the Universal Credit, whose costs continue to rise while only a handful of people receive the benefit. We support the principle behind universal credit but we won’t throw good money after bad. So we will immediately call a three month pause to enable us properly to evaluate the project on entering government.
When Labour developed the ESA, there was always an expectation that some disabled people would be unable to work. The support group embodies that approach and is now helping over a million disabled people. Labour will reform the WCA to ensure accurate assessments, and that repeat failures of assessors are penalized. Everyone going through the WCA will receive a statement of how their impairment or condition affects their capacity for work, and we will ensure people receive the benefit they’re entitled to.
Labour strongly opposes the bedroom tax. Two thirds of those households affected contain a disabled family member, and many have no option to move. Rachel Reeves has pledge to scrap this cruel and unfair tax as soon as Labour enters government.
On housing, only Labour are committed to delivering 200,000 new homes a year by the end of the next parliament. Labour introduced the decent homes standard in the last Government, and we recently proposed amendments to the Infrastructure Bill to ensure accessible homes for disabled people – and homes that can be adapted for disabled people as people develop impairments and health conditions – but these were rejected by the government.
Finally, Labour is committed to disability equality and the inclusion of disabled people in determining policy and a co-production will lie at the heart of the way we will work in government.
Further information on Labour policies is being updated online at: Labour.org.uk/our-policies/ and contains detail on issues affecting disabled people’s everyday lives. And our manifesto will be published before the election, including in accessible formats.
Labour continue to refuse to keep open even temporarily the Independent Living Fund In England although it has been proven to them that it is not too late to do so.
The integration of health and social care does not support the notions of independent living but rather of wellbeing.
They will not scrap the WCA process or bring it back in house.
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Other parties and links to their manifestos.
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SNP https://www.snp.org/
Plaid Cymru https://www.partyof.wales/2015-manifesto/
Northern Ireland Parties https://www.dfpni.gov.uk/links/links_northern_ireland_political_parties.htm
TUSC https://www.tusc.org.uk/policy
NHAP https://nhap.org/our-2015-manifesto/
Left Unity https://leftunity.org/
Class War https://www.classwarparty.org.uk/