Tressa Burke was recommended by the prime minister for the honour for her services to people with disabilities. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Exclusive: In letter declining proposed award, Tressa Burke, CEO of Glasgow Disability Alliance, accused government of ‘fuelling hatred’
The head of one of Scotland’s foremost disability rights charities says she turned down an MBE in the recent new year honours because the UK government was “fuelling hatred, blame and scapegoating of people with disabilities”.
Tressa Burke, chief executive officer of the Glasgow Disability Alliance, had been recommended by the prime minister for the honour for her services to people with disabilities. Over two decades, Burke has grown the organisation from seed into a nationally recognised voice for disabled people in Scotland’s largest city, and supported more than 5,000 members through the pandemic.
But in her letter declining the proposed award, seen by the Guardian, Burke told the Cabinet Office: “I feel that I cannot accept a personal honour because disabled people are being so dishonoured at this time.
“In fact we are being demonised, dehumanised and scapegoated for political choices and policy failures by consecutive governments.”
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Burke, who emphasises she means no disrespect to colleagues in the voluntary sector who have accepted similar honours, explains that she received the letter of recommendation on the day of the UK budget, which introduced stricter assessments for personal independent payments, frozen or reduced universal credit health top-ups and cuts to the Motability scheme.
“The budget was an opportunity to send out a signal not about how much disabled people cost but about how much disabled people are worth and are valued by society.”
Instead, she says, it has “supercharged the inequalities and unfairness disabled people face”.
Then chairman of the John Lewis partnership Charlie Mayfield, October 6, 2015
Ex-John Lewis boss calls for action against Britain’s ‘sick note culture’ as unions fear proposals target disabled
UNIONS raised fears over disabled people facing benefit cuts for not taking so-called “personal responsibility” to return to work today.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said that it has “real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues” following the publication of a major review on how to keep people in work.
Other unions stressed that bosses should be doing more to keep people with disabilities in jobs and “not simply sending them to the dole queues as shirking their responsibilities.”
Former John Lewis boss Sir Charlie Mayfield’s report urged a reduced reliance on GP sick notes amid an “enormous” cost to employers from ill health among workers.
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PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “We all want to tackle workplace ill-health and there are some interesting proposals which now require wider consultation — not just with employers but vitally with trade unions representing workers, and those who claim benefits.
“We have real concerns about proposals that would impose conditionality on workers for health issues.
“Rising ill-health in the UK has coincided with lengthening NHS waiting lists, a worsening housing crisis and a rise in poverty. Tackling these issues will be essential to improving public health.
Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
A baby playing with toys at home in Northamptonshire, August 4, 2023
Chancellor urged to unfreeze housing benefit and publish government’s long-delayed homelessness strategy as figures show more than 172,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation
A NEW record high of more than 172,000 children are living in temporary accommodation in England, almost enough to fill Wembley Stadium twice over, new government figures revealed today.
Official data shows numbers have risen in each quarter since 2021, reaching 132,410 households in temporary accommodation as of the end of June.
This is up 1.2 per cent from the previous three-month period and 7.6 per cent from the same time last year.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said 84,240 of those households included children.
Separate government data showed 8,732 people were sleeping rough in England in June, up from 8,309 a year earlier.
Campaigners are urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to unfreeze housing benefit in next month’s Budget and to publish the government’s long-delayed homelessness strategy.
Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said: “Tragically, we have now become totally accustomed to seeing record levels of children growing up in temporary accommodation.
“So we have to ask, as living costs increase and the supply of social homes recedes, when this will end?”
He said raising housing benefit “would enable more people and families to stay in their homes” and called for “a new generation of social homes” to help families “escape poverty and see a brighter future.”
New figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that one in five families with children living in temporary accommodation in England, and one in three in London, have been there for five years or longer.
The data shows a record 172,420 children are now living in temporary accommodation. Much of this housing is overcrowded and lacks basic facilities such as kitchens and laundry access.
Campaigners warn that these conditions have serious impacts on children’s health and wellbeing, with at least 74 child deaths linked to temporary accommodation over the past five years.
Housing groups say rising rents are trapping families in temporary accommodation, as Local Housing Allowance has failed to keep pace with the private rental market.
ONS data shows that average private rents have risen by 8.5% since April 2024, when housing benefit rates were last updated.
The shortfall is placing severe pressure on local councils, which are spending millions each year either on temporary accommodation itself or incentive payments to landlords to take on homeless tenants.
London Councils has warned that several boroughs are at risk of bankruptcy due to escalating costs.
Tom Darling, director at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, said: “The fact that one in five homeless families have been trapped in temporary accommodation for five years or more is a moral stain on society.
“TA barely merits the term accommodation. Cramped, unhealthy and lacking facilities, it is totally unsuitable for families with children, particularly for long periods of time.”
He added: “The Renters’ Rights Bill will deliver welcome protections for tenants, but it will not address the affordability crisis that is keeping families trapped in homelessness and pushing councils to the brink of bankruptcy.
“The Government must cap rent increases to stop rents from outpacing wages or inflation, and in the longer term we need a National Affordable Renting Commission to make renting genuinely affordable.”
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Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
Instead of addressing child poverty, homelessness, poor working conditions or any of the real issues impacting this country, Labour has chosen to deflect the blame and pour billions into arms, says Jeremy Corbyn. Britain is tired of having no political choice – and we’re here to fix that
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Over the past year, the government has continued a programme of austerity and privatisation. It has refused to lift the two-child benefit cap, the single biggest driver of child poverty. It has tried to take away the winter fuel allowance. It has increased the bus fare cap. And it has tried to take away £5bn from disabled people, curating a two-tiered benefit system that deprives thousands of people of a dignified life.
There is one area where the government has been very generous, though: arms spending. Government military spending is now at £31.7bn, which is a 6 per cent increase in real terms from last year. Imagine how much better ordinary people’s lives would be if we spent that money on schools, hospitals and green energy instead.
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People have had enough of a political regime that serves the interests of billionaires and corporations. They have had enough of a government that inflicts suffering at home and enables genocide abroad. They have had enough of broken promises from political parties that fail to deliver real change.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.Keir Starmer explains the moral case for cutting disability benefits. He says work will set you free.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Children’s commissioner says any Labour strategy to tackle deprivation must scrap the two-child benefit cap
Children in England are living in “almost Dickensian levels of poverty” where deprivation has become normalised, the children’s commissioner has said, as she insisted the two-child benefit limit must be scrapped.
Young people said they had experienced not having enough water to shower, rats biting through their walls, and mouldy bedrooms, among a number of examples in a report on the “crisis of hardship” gripping the country.
Dame Rachel de Souza said she had noticed a significant shift in how young people talked about their lives since she became children’s commissioner four years ago, and that “issues that were traditionally seen as ‘adult’ concerns are now keenly felt by children”.
“Children shared harrowing accounts of hardship, with some in almost Dickensian levels of poverty,” she said. “They don’t talk about ‘poverty’ as an abstract concept but about not having the things that most people would consider basic: a safe home that isn’t mouldy or full or rats, with a bed big enough to stretch out in, ‘luxury’ food like bacon, a place to do homework, heating, privacy in the bathroom and being able to wash, having their friends over, and not having to travel hours to school.”
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She said that, in “one of the richest societies in the world”, people in power “should be ashamed that children are growing up knowing their futures are being determined by their financial circumstances”.
Then chairman of the John Lewis partnership Charlie Mayfield, October 6, 2015
