24 June 2015
During Prime Minister’s Questions, demonstrators from Disabled People Against Cuts occupied the lobby of the Houses of Parliament and attempted to enter the House of Commons in protest against government cuts to the Independent Living Fund, which provides social care support to 18,000 severely disabled people. The cuts began under the Conservative-led coalition government in 2010 and continue under the Conservative majority government.
DPAC writes that “plans to merge the ILF with mainstream care and support will result in a greatly reduced quality of life for disabled people and for some will mean being forced into residential care against their wishes. This will prevent disabled people from full inclusion and participation in the community, as anticipated by Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
The ILF “typically funds personal assistants, or carers, for up to 24-hours a day to assist in everything from bathing, making meals and turning people in their beds at night.”
The Metropolitan Police employed a “heavy handed” response and used pressure point techniques on the protesters, deployed officers armed with machine guns and told journalists to stop recording the scene.