London Mayoral Disabled Hustings Shunned by Candidates
What this tells us about mainstream politicians and their attitudes toward the disabled
Sunday’s Telegraph covered the snubbing of Inclusion London’s hustings for the disabled by Sadiq Khan and the mayoral candidates for both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. To her credit, Zoe Garbett of the Greens turned up. Sadly, Reform UK was excluded – ironic given that the event was organised by Inclusion London – but its mayoral candidate Howard Cox has assured me that he would have been delighted to attend.
Had Howard been invited, here are some of the issues he might have mentioned based upon what Reform has heard from disabled people, often at ULEZ protests:
The ULEZ expansion has hit some disabled people very hard, even allowing for grace periods. I met one who said that she could not afford to replace her non-compliant car which meant that she would no longer be able to work once the extension came in, having to depend instead on benefits
Having been told – by David Lammy among others – to rely on public transport, wheelchair users make the point that too few London Underground stations have lift access. This is more the case the further out of central London you live and is particularly problematic in the area of outer London most dramatically impacted by the ULEZ extension
If instead, you take the bus, the solitary space for wheelchairs is often filled up already with bikes or a pushchair
Before you get on the bus, you may have to cross a cycle lane at one of the new “floating” bus stops. This is intimidating and highly dangerous, particularly for those in wheelchairs and the blind.
Being unable to buy a new petrol or diesel vehicle from 2035 will adversely impact those disabled people that need a lift at the rear. Powering this with the battery of an electric vehicle is impractical.
All of these issues are soluble and yet the will and funding do not appear to be there from the incumbent Mayor or any of the other no-show parties at the hustings. What there is a great deal of will and funding for is, of course, net zero. As to exactly how much funding is needed to deliver a net zero London by 2030, the Mayor’s own figure is a staggering £75 billion. While some of this is to come from private finance, it is still a huge drain on funding for questionable results. It inevitably detracts from solving the issues that have such a detrimental impact on the lives of the disabled and yet the parties represented on the London Assembly are all in agreement on pushing ahead with it.
The cross-party consensus on net zero is all in keeping with the snub of the disabled hustings. To pursue net zero at any cost suggests an underlying luxury belief that humans are a blight on the planet. Our elites can afford such beliefs possessing the wealth to be largely immune from the consequences of their policies. This cannot be said for the poor and, of course, the disabled.
There are regrettably few hustings in the forthcoming London mayoral elections and some that are happening are taking place on Zoom. They are an important part of the democratic process and the no-shows from last week’s event beg the question what greater priority could have prevented the Mayor and two of his challengers from attending.
Fortunately, Reform UK was included in a more local event organised by HAD (Harrow Association of Disabled people) and I attended as the party’s candidate for the Brent and Harrow constituency along with all four of the other parties. It was a wonderfully polite meeting with vigorous discussion on many of the issues raised above. My fellow candidates oozed compassion for their disabled audience but their consensus on net zero screamed contempt, a little like a sneer playing across the face of our Mayor.