Fighting for disability rights - Angus Robertson
I welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to increase funding to improve access to services for disabled people.
The announcement confirms an additional £500,000 to strengthen access to essential services and projects that people rely on, as part of the Disability Equality Plan.
This announcement follows the Scottish Government working with Lothian MSP and longtime disability rights campaigner, Jeremy Balfour.
My colleague and Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville has made clear that disabled people are a priority for the Scottish Government, and her work individually and on a cross-party basis is admirable and effective.
The increased investment will support programmes that improve information, advice and pathways, and that make it easier for people to engage with services. The link to the Disability Equality Plan matters, because it gives a framework for action and measurement.
As an SNP MSP, I will continue to support constructive work on access in Edinburgh and across Scotland and wherever possible, work with others from across the chamber like Jeremy. Recently, we both attended a cross-party meeting to protest the Labour Council’s cuts to health and social care organisations in the city.
Whether in local or UK Government, Labour’s approach to the least well-off and vulnerable is disastrous. Having partially climbed down from vicious welfare cuts to disability payments, Keir Starmer has made an ally of Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch who said she will work with him to cut benefits in future.
Come the Holyrood elections, voters should consider who is fighting for the rights of disabled people – the answer is certainly not Labour.