The UN warned in March that UK government policies have directly contributed to the deaths of disabled people
Eight years ago, the UK was found to be the first ever country to breach the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People. But rather than addressing this colossal failure, the Tories went on to make it ever worse.
Only a month ago a United Nations committee said UK Government policies had contributed to the deaths of disabled people and warned that its policies were “demonising” disabled people through a “traumatising” benefits system.
The UN rapporteurs said current UK policy “tells disabled people that they’re undeserving citizens” and “makes (disabled) people feel like criminals”. However, only last week Rishi Sunak announced plans to further cut disability benefits in what was described as ‘an assault on disabled people’ by charities.
Since 2010, people with disabilities have been hit hard by Tory austerity cuts, with four million disabled people already living in poverty before the cost-of-living crisis.
Austerity cuts killed tens of thousands more people in England than previously thought, research by the University of York found in 2021. With cuts to health and social care linked to more than 57,000 deaths between 2010 and 2014.
At the time, CEO of Disability Rights UK, Kamran Mallick said: “As the government makes noises about a move back to austerity to pay for Covid measures, it needs to stop and think about the devastation they may cause to the poorest people in society, many of whom are Disabled.
“Disabled living comes at a premium of over £500 a month. Far too many of us can’t make ends meet as it is. Austerity is inhumane.”
Co-chair of the disabled people’s and service-user network Shaping Our Lives, Professor Peter Beresford said the deaths caused by austerity cuts “should not be lost and forgotten as simply another set of statistics” and urged for action in the interests of both disabled and non-disabled people.
More than 330,000 excess deaths in Great Britain in total have been attributed to austerity, while disability charities have also highlighted numerous deaths of benefit claimants linked to systemic flaws in the welfare system.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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