Last week, disabled people were shocked and saddened to learn that the government intends to restrict Motability cars. After weeks of hate against us from the government, we got a whole 2 minutes in the budget, but in that time we learnt that we would lose the right to “luxury vehicles” and that we would face thousands in upfront fees. What the chancellor missed out here is that a lot of “basic” cars can’t be adapted in the same way “luxury” ones can.
As a community, we’re more than used to the hate disabled benefits claimants and motability users get online. But it was with disgust that disabled people watched as, in a few short months, the bile against Motability went from Twitter rage baiting to government policy.
However, one thing that is missing from mainstream media is how Keir Starmer’s government is repeatedly turning right-wing rage bait into policy.
Motability campaign: enter professional ableist and rage baiter Max Tempers
One social media user, Max Tempers, has spent an inordinate amount of time constantly tweeting about how Motability is a scam. Tempers spent his Christmas last year massively attacking Motability. The topic was then parroted by Politics UK and Reform MP Richard Tice. Tempers has also massively attacked personal independence payments (PIP) claimants on the whole. His online vitriol has also been shared by shadow Work and Pensions secretary Helen Whately.
But, it’s Tempers’ hatred for Motability over the last few months that has drawn the most attention from politicians. His beliefs that disabled people should only be allowed to drive ‘special’ cars was picked up by Reform’s Lee Anderson and eventually became news, something Tempers had a good chuckle over.
As previously reported by the Canary, Tempers is closely associated with the Motability Checker site which he claimed wasn’t there to incite hatred on motability users. That’s in spite of him calling cars used in crimes “motability Mercedes”. Following Reeves’ announcement that luxury cars would be removed from the scheme, the Motability Checker closed down, because it’d seemingly done its job to turn the public against disabled people.
Immigration and health policy
Unfortunately, the Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) aren’t the only areas of government that let right-wing blowhards dictate policy. Immigration policy from the Home Office is massively catering towards the worst in humanity, who spend their days being racist cunts on the internet. From Starmer calling us an “island of strangers” to Mahmood’s repeated “performative cruelty” which currently involves taking asylum seekers’ jewellery and stopping them from using taxis to get to hospital appointments.
Every action by the Home Office is a clear dog whistle to those who celebrated migrant hotels being attacked last year. The policies have been so bad that even Lee Anderson called them “dog whistle politics”, though he was rightly laughed out of the Commons.
And of course, anything calling out Labour’s dog whistle politics had to include the way Wes Streeting is treating trans people. Head TERF JK Rowling and her pack of losers have made trans people’s lives hell for a long time. Yet in response to this, Streeting has fuelled the hatred by agreeing that trans women shouldn’t be allowed on female-only hospital wards. Every day, he proves that the late great Dawn Foster was correct in calling him a “right-wing lickspittle cunt”. Streeting is also central to the desperately transphobic puberty blocker ban.
Labour needs to stop appealing to right-wing scum, because Zack’s coming
While Labour have been far from left-wing for a long time, seeing them become more and more right-wing with every passing day has been terrifying. What’s even more concerning is that their policies are being dictated by right-wing online trolls.
Instead of seeing these people for what they are, losers with horrendous opinions, Labour have pandered to their every whim in a desperate attempt to claw back Tory and Reform voters. But what Starmer and co have to remember is that by parroting the local dickhead, they’re pushing more and more younger and marginalised voters into Zack and the Greens’ arms.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.