Whilst Labour are still spaffing on about Getting Britain Working Again and effectively forcing disabled people into work, they just blocked a major amendment that would make it easier for disabled people to travel to work.
On Monday, Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough Tom Gordon handed in a petition backed by 75 MPs and disability charities calling on the government to lift the restrictions on disabled bus passes.
In many parts of England, disabled people cannot use their free bus pass before 9:30 am. This means that if disabled people need to travel before 9:30 am for work, school, appointments, or simply because disabled people should be allowed to go where they want when they want, they have to pay.
We’re disabled, not werewolves
There is currently a way that disabled bus pass holders can travel before 9:30 am. If you are in education or employment above 15 hours a week, you need to provide the travel operator with proof from your employer or school. It’s essentially expecting disabled people to get permission from their school or boss to be able to get an early bus; it’s nothing short of demeaning and takes away our freedom.
The restrictions also mean that disabled people can’t get a bus for free after 11 pm, because, of course, we don’t have social lives or even jobs that would mean we’re out after dark. To paraphrase the great Jennifer Lee Rossman “We’re disabled, we’re not werewolves”
Disabled people deserve freedom
Some local authorities have chosen to waive the rule and allow disabled people to travel at any time, but this isn’t good enough. They shouldn’t have to do this at a cost to the council when the government, which is apparently serious about supporting disabled people into work, could just scrap the time restrictions.
Speaking to the press after he submitted the amendment, Gordon said:
“Stopping disabled people from using their bus passes before 9.30am is indefensible. It creates yet another obstacle for people already facing higher costs and limited choices.”
While many argue that disabled people could just pay for the bus like everyone else, that’s not the point. Disabled people already face enough additional costs that non disabled people don’t. The charity Scope estimates that it costs disabled households on average £1,095 extra a month, which is over double the average PIP payment of £465 a month.
The petition served as the basis for Gordon’s amendment to the Bus Services Bill, which received huge cross-party support. Speaking in the Commons last night ahead of the amendment vote, Gordon said
The facts are simple: disabilities do not disappear at peak times, so why then are our policies based on arbitrary time frames? To design a scheme intended to promote accessibility only to limit it when most people need it undermines the very purpose of the policy
Labour and Tories vote against disabled people again
Despite Gordon’s amendment making sense to many and seemingly something which would help support disabled people into work, it was voted down in the Commons last night. Just 70 MPs voted for it, while 287 voted against it. All except two Tory MPs abstained. On Twitter, Gordon claimed, “The Conservatives whipped their MPs to abstain.” It comes to something when Labour downvotes a bill that would help disabled people that Reform are in support of, but all Reform MPs (well, all 3 of them) voted for it.
All of the no votes came from Labour and Independent MPs. many of whom had previously spoken out about disability benefits cuts or even rebelled against the government’s plans. It’s another absolutely vile, clear case where party politics has been put before voting for something that would make their constituents’ lives better.
What’s extra hypocritical is this came on the same day that many Labour MPs called for the government to once again scrap the 2 child limit after a report on poverty was released. The report also found that one in four disabled people experienced food insecurity in 2024, more than double the amount of non-disabled people.
Speaking after the vote, Gordon said
The Labour Government’s vote to reject my amendment on disabled bus passes speaks volumes. This was their moment to show they take equality and accessibility seriously – but instead, they turned their backs on disabled people once again.
Forcing disabled people into work but not supporting us into work, again
And that’s it in a nutshell, really, for all Labour pretend to care about disabled people, their actions say otherwise. How can you be running such a stringent campaign to force disabled people back into work and claim to be supporting us into work when, at the same time as quietly cutting our support, you won’t allow us a measly free bus pass?
At the end of the day, the bus pass amendment didn’t pass because so many believe that disabled people don’t need to travel before 9:30 am. We exist in their minds as people who don’t have jobs, appointments or school to get to, we don’t have family or friends to visit or a community to be a part of. We’re drains on the system who they would prefer to be shut in the house all day.
This post was originally published on Canary.