The Manifesto is a series of policies that would create a just and fairer society for all including the 16 million Disabled people in the UK. When the General Election was announced in May 2024, the Disabled Peoples Organisations Forum (DPO) sent a letter to all political parties who prior to the dissolution of Parliament had a seat in the House of Commons.
We asked each party to complete simple yes/no questions for our Disability Scorecard based on policy asks from the Disabled People’s Manifesto. The Disability Scorecard would allow Disabled people to judge each party on what issues matters most to them before casting a vote in the General Election UK 2024.
Out of 13 political parties, only 3 responded: Green Party, Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. We did not receive a response from the following parties:
- Alba Party
- Alliance
- Conservative Party
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Plaid Cymru
- Reform UK
- Sinn Féin
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Scottish National Party
- Workers Party of Britain
The Liberal Democrats did not complete the Disability Scorecard. They explained that they did not answer any surveys as they lacked capacity and time but pointed to their manifesto as demonstrating their commitment to the Disabled community. “We have some good policies in our manifesto - including coproducing a system for disability benefits, making flexible working a day one right etc. Access to Work for example, whilst it might not have made it into the manifesto, was something we were busy working on in the background before the election was called.”
In the letter we sent to the political parties, we explained in the interests of transparency that we would publicise non-responses as “no plans to address this policy area.” For editing purposes, we have displayed this as ‘no response’ and will only be displaying four political parties: Conservative Party, Green Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats. We wanted to include the Conservative Party as they are the incumbent government and include the Liberal Democrats as they sent a response.
Disabled people have been the hardest hit by austerity, the COVID pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. It is disappointing that so many political parties including the Conservative Party did not reply. We are asking for our political system to engage with Disabled people. We represent 22% of the UK population, and our votes matter.
The invitation is still open to parties to respond before the General Election.
The election is on Thursday July 4th, make sure you have shared and read the Disabled Peoples Manifesto.