We at DPAC want to offer our very warmest and heartfelt congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on winning the vote by a landslide to be the new Labour Party Leader.
We know that Jeremy is a decent, honest man who will stand by his principles of fairness and decency for all.
We think he will make not just a good, but a great Labour Party Leader and we look forward to him becoming the Prime Minister who will return this country to being a nation of decency and tolerance with the proceeds prosperity shared by all.
DPAC have supported Jeremy in the leadership contest, which was a once-only break from our usual position not being supporters of any party or political grouping.
(You can read more about our reasons for that here: https://dpac.uk.net/2015/07/the-labour-party-needs-a-leader-not-a-jobsworth-thats-why-dpac-are-supporting-jeremy-corbyn/ )
At that time we made a promise to our members and supporters that at the end of the Labour leadership elections, DPAC would go back to supporting no political party.
So now the election is over, and we will keep that promise, and restate that DPAC is aligned to no political party. This means that we will consider ourselves free to criticise any political party that does not work for the best interests of disabled people.
Of course it also means that where political parties do work for the interests of disabled people, we are equally free to praise that.
We are hopeful that a Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn will earn more of our praise, and less of the scorn that we have given Labour in the past, but we will not hesitate to scorn Labour, whoever it is led by, if we feel that is what we need to do.
So what now?
While it is cause for celebration that Jeremy has won this election and we do believe it will lead to very welcome positive changes in British politics, some things are not going to change, at least not for a while:
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The Tory party are still in power, and they are still inflicting great misery and harm on disabled people.
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The WCA is still in existence, and people are still losing their DLA, after waiting for unacceptably long times in the PIP queue.
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Thousands of Disabled People have still lost the ILF funding and are looking at a loss of independence and an uncertain future
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Disabled people and non-disabled people alike are still being sanctioned and living in fear of being sanctioned for contrived reasons, to satisfy the misery lust of Iain Duncan Smith
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We still have the threat to face of the next stage of Welfare “Reforms” which bring ever greater misty and harm.
So just because we are celebrating that Jeremy Corbyn is the new Labour Leader, this isn’t time to let off campaigning, this is the time to STEP UP the pressure, campaign harder and bring all the pressure to bear that we can to bring down this vile, evil Tory government.
And on top of that, we think that Jeremy would agree, that positive social change has never been caused by Westminster.
Certainly the laws that enact that change are voted through in Westminster, but MPs didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to vote for Women’s rights or LGBT rights, or workers rights.
MPs only voted for those rights after pressure from society made that change an imperative that MPs and Parties responded to.
All the change for good that has happened in this country, in fact anywhere in the world, has happened because people, ordinary people, not leaders or politicians but just people, had stood up and demanded their rights.
DPAC is part of that fight for rights, for disabled people’s civil rights, we are one of the many grass roots led, disabled people led groups and organisations that are fighting, and fighting hard for those rights.
Now is not the time to step back from the fight, lets celebrate Jeremy Corbyn’s win and then take that encouragement and move on to step up that fight.
The battle we fight isn’t fought in Westminster, its fought in places like Nuneaton, Cardiff, Liverpool, Derry, Glasgow, Swansea, Belfast, York, Exeter, Nottingham, Bournemouth, Dover, and in towns and cities all over the UK and its a battle for hearts and minds and its a fight that everyone can take part in.
The next phase of disabled people’s fight for their rights, will be in Manchester in early October when DPAC join with many other groups to protest at the Tory Party conference, why not join us or if you can’t get there protest in person, you might want to donate to sponsor another protester to go instead (but only if you can afford it)
And of course we will be having a parallel protest on social media, throughout the Tory conference, watch this blog for more details of that to come.
Don’t forget actions speak louder than words!
it will be 4.5 years till next election which, if Labour wins,means they will need to manage the economy whatever state its in then and nothing will happen for several months or more, therefore pressure still needs to be kept up up on present Government!
I wonder IF Jeremy will start to challenge the repressive machine that was set up by Labour and extended by the Tories?
The Labour Leader has changed BUT the vast majority of Labour MPs are still Blairites. An Elite who have never experienced life as we know it. Prejudice, to them, is something that has happened, in the past, to others.
I hope he will manage to change his Party. I have a very small part of me that tries to believe he could succeed in making it OUR Party.
The next few days will tell the tale. Allredy there have been very public resignations, one didn’t even wait for the end of JC’s acceptance speech before resigning publicly on twitter.
The question Labour members have to ask is – Do we want the MPs who will ‘retire to the back benches’ and plot a takeover by the Right, to remain in the Party? Or should they be expelled for holding views that do not comply with those of the Party? They did try to use the same argument to prevent many Left wingers returning to back Corbyn. Many were deprived of their right to vote.
The whole political system in the UK is corrupt. Most MPs are there for the gravy train of subsidised everything. He has a lot to do.
One Hears that Jeremy Corbyn has been Elected Leader of the Labour Party and Now is Leader of the Opposition .
After 4 Months of Leadership Contest Labour Needs to Provide an Alternative to the Slavery of Austerity and the Suffering of the Underdog
Labour Needs to Offer a Real Alternative to the Mayhem and Misery of Austerity under the Tories who
were Propped Up by the Liberal Democrats until March 2015
Hear hear. ..sooner the Tories are out the better.