Transparency records reveal senior trade officials held dinners and strategy meetings with the notorious lobbying firm even as controversy over its Epstein links deepened, says SOLOMON HUGHES
ONCE again, Britain has abandoned its disabled citizens. In a recent press conference, Rishi Sunak began his bid for the election with a speech on “sicknote culture,” where he blamed the country’s problems on the disabled.
This came just a few weeks after a report from the UN that detailed the dire state of disability rights in Britain. To top it off, as with every other minority group that needs his support, Keir Starmer has joined the Conservative pile-on. Having lost the left and the right, the need for a disabled revolution has never been clearer.
Sunak’s plans to “reform,” or perhaps more accurately, decimate, disability welfare are based on the principle of reducing the income of disabled people, a group more likely than average to live in poverty.
It’s a shameless appeal to the Tory voter who believes too many disabled people are living a life of luxury on other workers’ hard-earned taxes. If only it were true. In fact, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ latest report has accused Britain of failing its disabled citizens.
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
Here are the voices of DANIEL KEBEDE, FRAN HEATHCOTE, HOLLY TURNER and LEANNE MOHAMAD explaining why they will be taking part in the People’s Assembly No More Austerity demo next weekend
Starmer forced to rethink controversial cuts after uproar



