Proposed by Councillor Tidball, seconded by Councillor Paule

Labour member motion

The Conservative government, and their coalition partners, has failed disabled people. It has failed to protect their human rights and to understand what it means to be a disabled person living in the United Kingdom today. In August of this year, the United Nations told the Conservative government that it's ‘social cuts policy is a human catastrophe for disabled people’. In their full inquiry, published last month, the UN Committee found reliable evidence [i] that there have been ‘grave’ and ‘systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities’ by the UK State. They make a direct connection between the State’s treatment of disabled people and the terrible rise in stigma and negative perceptions of people with disabilities ‘as living a life of less value than that of others’. Make no mistake about the impact this has had on disabled people:

·         13,900 of them have lost their motability cars;

·         41,792 were sanctioned and deprived of income from Job Seekers Allowance;

·         2,380 people died after being assessed as being fit for work [ii].

The UK Government has failed to recognise the overwhelming evidence provided to the United Nations and respond effectively to the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations.

Nature of the problem

The UN Report makes the causes of the ‘human catastrophe’ facing disabled people very clear: the ideologically driven and disproportionate ‘impact of austerity measures and anti-poverty initiatives’ introduced by the Coalition government from 2010 onwards. This has resulted in ‘severe economic constraints among persons with disabilities and their families‘. This has led to multiple forms of intersectional discrimination with the UK government failing to:

·         protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities;

·         protect the rights of persons from black and minority ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities;

·         prevent many families with children with disabilities from falling into poverty.

The breaches  by the UK Government, of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, cut across the totality of the lives of disabled persons with the UN Committee finding there is a:

·         lack of UK State party-led initiatives aimed at assessing and sufficiently addressing the inclusion of and living conditions for persons with disabilities, including the reduction in the nature and time for social care support;

·         disabled people have reduced access to employment and where they do have access, it is less well paid and secure;

·         increased social exclusion and isolation and a corresponding rise in mental health problems as a result of the negative impact on the standard of living of persons with disabilities arising from ‘the reductions in social support, unemployment allowance, independence payments and Universal Credit payments and the insufficient compensation for disability-related costs’;

·         the reduced access to justice because of the reductions in legal aid.

These findings led the UN Committee to conclude that there was a ‘lack of consistency across the State party [the UK Government] in the understanding of, adapting to and applying the human rights model of  ...  view the full agenda text for item 68

Councillor Tidball proposed her submitted motion as set out in the agenda and briefing note.

Councillor Paule seconded the motion.

Councillor Gant, seconded by Councillor Wade, proposed his amendment as set out in the briefing note.

After debate and on being put to the vote, the amendment  was declared lost.

After debate and on being put to the vote, the original motion was declared carried.

Council agreed the following motion:

The Conservative government, and their coalition partners, has failed disabled people. It has failed to protect their human rights and to understand what it means to be a disabled person living in the United Kingdom today. In August of this year, the United Nations told the Conservative government that it's ‘social cuts policy is a human catastrophe for disabled people’. In their full inquiry, published last month, the UN Committee found reliable evidence [i] that there have been ‘grave’ and ‘systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities’ by the UK State. They make a direct connection between the State’s treatment of disabled people and the terrible rise in stigma and negative perceptions of people with disabilities ‘as living a life of less value than that of others’. Make no mistake about the impact this has had on disabled people:

·         13,900 of them have lost their motability cars;

·         41,792 were sanctioned and deprived of income from Job Seekers Allowance;

·         2,380 people died after being assessed as being fit for work [ii].

The UK Government has failed to recognise the overwhelming evidence provided to the United Nations and respond effectively to the UN Committee’s Concluding Observations.

Nature of the problem

The UN Report makes the causes of the ‘human catastrophe’ facing disabled people very clear: the ideologically driven and disproportionate ‘impact of austerity measures and anti-poverty initiatives’ introduced by the Coalition government from 2010 onwards. This has resulted in ‘severe economic constraints among persons with disabilities and their families‘. This has led to multiple forms of intersectional discrimination with the UK government failing to:

·         protect the rights of women and girls with disabilities;

·         protect the rights of persons from black and minority ethnic minority backgrounds with disabilities;

·         prevent many families with children with disabilities from falling into poverty.

The breaches  by the UK Government, of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, cut across the totality of the lives of disabled persons with the UN Committee finding there is a:

·         lack of UK State party-led initiatives aimed at assessing and sufficiently addressing the inclusion of and living conditions for persons with disabilities, including the reduction in the nature and time for social care support;

·         disabled people have reduced access to employment and where they do have access, it is less well paid and secure;

·         increased social exclusion and isolation and a corresponding rise in mental health problems as a result of the negative impact on the standard of living of persons with disabilities arising from ‘the reductions in social support, unemployment allowance, independence payments and Universal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68