End disability poverty - campaign update
End disability poverty - campaign update
Fantastic news as over 200 MPs have now signed our Early Day Motion (EDM) to end disability poverty!End disability poverty - campaign update
To put this into context, in 2006/07 there were 2359 EDMs tabled and only 29 received the support
of 200 MPs or more. So far in 2007/08 there have been 1128 EDMs tabled, of which our motion
comes in the top 10, at number 8 for the highest amount of support from MPs!
In addition, Mark Harper MP, the Conservative’s Spokesperson on Disability, has challenged the
government to tackle disability poverty following the findings of our report. James Purnell, the new
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, has committed to studying the report’s findings and
recommendations and looking at ways in which they can influence government policy. The full exchange in the House of Commons can
be read here.
You can also read John Knight’s (Head of Policy & Campaigns at Leonard Cheshire Disability) article on disability poverty, published
today, in the Comment is Free section of the Guardian Online.
Thank you to all of you who have sent a postcard to your MP so far. Your campaigning efforts have really helped to get the
government and all political parties to take notice and will ensure that they continue to listen to the voices of disabled people.
If you haven’t sent a postcard yet or if you want to encourage your friends and family to do so then there is still time. We want MPs to
receive as many postcards as possible before 3rd April when they go on their Easter break.
To send a postcard online go to www.enddisabilitypoverty.org – it takes just a couple of minutes to do. Alternatively you can contact us
at campaigning@LCDisability.org and ask us to send you some printed copies that you can fill out and post to your MP.
Thank you for your support,
Katie
(Katie Turner, National Campaigns Officer) P.S. - Don’t forget to join our End disability poverty facebook group at:
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid
Kindly reproduced with permission of Leonard Cheshire Disability
Category: General
Posted: Mar 6, 2008
