Disability hate crime and bedroom tax commitments lead Labour's fight for votes

Disabled people’s charity the Royal Mencap Society has warmly welcomed two key policy areas raised at the Labour party conference.

The commitment, from Labour, is to reverse a £150 million tax cut for hedge funds, also known as ‘the bedroom tax’, while the party has also signalled its intention to strengthen the law regarding disability hate crime.

Leader Ed Miliband attacked the Government’s record on housing benefit, telling the conference: “We have a Tory-led government which listens only to a privileged few. Tax cuts for millionaires and tax breaks for hedge funds.

“I am leading a different Labour party, a One Nation Labour Party, which listens and will stand up for ordinary families like that of Danielle Heard, who I met this week. We will fight for her like she has fought cancer heroically for 14 years. She is disabled and battling cancer again but now her family must pay £80 a month they can’t afford under this government’s hated bedroom tax.”

He continues: “We will scrap the bedroom tax by abolishing the shady schemes of tax loopholes for the privileged few which the Tories keep inventing.”

Director of external relations and communities at Mencap, Simon Parkinson, welcomes a firm commitment to helping disabled adults. He comments:

“The 400,000 disabled people hit by the under occupation charge or ‘Bedroom Tax’ will welcome Labour’s commitment to repeal this policy. Whilst we must ensure social housing is used effectively, hitting disabled people with extra housing charges they simply can't afford, when there are few alternative places for them to move to, has done little to solve the country's massive shortage of social housing.”

Previously the Liberal Democrat conference saw a vote supporting a review of housing benefit, although so far no ministers have spoken out in support, despite the Government even coming under pressure from a UN official earlier this month to scrap the policy.

Mr Parkinson was also delighted to see disability hate crime high on the agenda, commenting:

“We also welcome Labour's commitment to tackling disability hate crime by strengthening the law covering these crimes. Nine out of 10 people with a learning disability will experience hate crime and hostility. We must ensure that people who commit these crimes are brought to justice.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne used his conference speech to attack the record of Atos Healthcare, who the Department of Health uses to carry out disability assessments:

He said: “I say to David Cameron, Atos are a disgrace, you should sack them and sack them now.

“We will change the law so hate crime against disabled people is treated like every other hate crime.

“Like most families in this country, I know first-hand that disability can affect anyone. Someone is registered disabled every three minutes. Yet, today disabled people are threatened by a vicious combination of hate crime, Atos and the bedroom tax.”