United Kingdom General Election 2024: What are Political Parties Pledging for Disabled People? On 22 May 2024, the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced the next General Election would happen on 4 July 2024. The General Election is when people in the UK aged over 18 can vote for which party is in power and who becomes the next Prime Minister. So, what has Disability Equality Scotland done sinc...

Fact Sheet: Social Security and Poverty What is the issue we asked members about? When asked about forthcoming election priorities, our members told us that cost of living, social security, poverty and inequality were key issues for disabled people when deciding how to vote. We then asked about our members’ experiences and challenges due to increasing mortgage rates, higher rent and higher bills a...

Access to Democracy: Member’s Priorities for the UK General Election With all the political parties beginning to set out their stall for the next United Kingdom (UK) general election, Disability Equality Scotland (DES) want to make sure that the priorities of disabled people help to shape the debate. In February 2024, we carried out a members question asking you to tell us the top 10 issues for di...

United Kingdom General Election: 4 July 2024 Access to Democracy for Disabled People  After the almost constant news coverage over the last day or so, it is difficult to ignore the fact that a United Kingdom (UK) General Election has been called! So what? What happens now? Well, all the political parties in your local area will now begin to canvass and ask you to vote for their chosen candidate an...

Our response to the Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill Disability Equality Scotland recently submitted our response to the Scottish Government about what should be in their proposed Learning Disability, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill (LDAN Bill). The bill is about making sure people with learning disabilities, autistic people and neurodivergent people can access the services and...

Next First Minister must ensure Scotland’s ‘globally significant’ commitment to care delivers concrete changes Campaigners, including Disability Equality Scotland, have warmly welcomed Scottish Ministers’ backing for a new world-leading commitment on care, and say that it must not be overshadowed by the political upheaval facing the Scottish Government. Instead, campaigners say ‘...

Coalition of Disability Rights Groups Unites to Oppose Assisted Dying Bill The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill was published on 27 March and will be tabled in the Scottish Parliament. A coalition of organisations, including Disability Equality Scotland, has united to oppose the proposed legislation. The proposed legislation is designed to permit medical assistance in procu...

UK Budget 2024: Reflections and Impact on Disabled People It has now been some 12 days since the budget announcement by the United Kingdom (UK) Government and Disability Equality Scotland has taken some time to reflect on the announcements made and the support, or implications, for disabled people. Since the budget announcement on 6 March, there have been a number of papers and articles highlighti...

Cost-of-Living and Disabled People: BBC Reporting Scotland (26 February 2024) Disability Equality Scotland (DES) members may have seen the short news report yesterday evening on the early evening BBC 1 Reporting Scotland programme. The news piece was based on recent research by Euan’s Guide, which mirrored some of the findings contained within our own research from late in 2023 and can be viewed a...

General Election 2024 – Access to Democracy for Disabled People As we are sure you are aware, there will be a UK general election at some point in the next 12 months, to elect your local Member of Parliament, in the UK Parliament. We wanted to let you know that there are some new rules in place when going to vote at this election. As always, all voters must appear on the electoral register t...