Labour’s Role in the Far Right’s Surge

 

Thrown to the Wolves: How Labour’s Betrayal of Disabled People is Fueling the Rise of the Far Right

By Sean Ash

Labour are throwing disabled people’s futures into the hands of the far right.

They came to us with promises, of dignity, protection, fairness. They said they’d rebuild our safety nets, look after the working class, and challenge the cruelty of Conservative austerity. They said they would be different. But now, in power, they’re dismantling those very promises, and they’re doing it at the expense of people like me.

I’m in a wheelchair. I don’t live in luxury. I hardly leave my house. If it weren’t for a few close friends, I wouldn’t eat most days. I’m not rare. I’m not “an exception.” I’m one of millions in this country living with severe, long-term conditions who are now being told, by the very party we hoped would help, that we cost too much.

And yet, while making these cuts, Labour quietly dropped its commitment to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into UK law. They promised to enshrine it. Then, in June 2024, ahead of the general election, that pledge mysteriously vanished from their official policy platform.

Why? Perhaps because enshrining the UNCRPD would have legally blocked what came next.

In March 2025, the Labour government announced a series of brutal welfare reforms. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) criteria were tightened. The health-related element of Universal Credit was halved for new claimants. Carers lost support. Winter fuel allowances were scrapped. Tax promises were broken. And energy bills, despite all the pledges, are still rising.

These changes are set to impact over 3 million households. And internal forecasts show that 700,000 families already living in poverty will be hit the hardest. Another 250,000 are expected to fall into poverty as a direct result of Labour’s reforms.

This isn’t just disappointing. It’s dangerous.

When the party meant to protect the vulnerable starts turning on them, it opens the door to something far worse. And that’s exactly what’s happening. The public, betrayed and broken, are now turning to parties like Reform UK. They offer nothing but harder cuts, harsher rhetoric, and barely veiled fascism. And Labour are handing them the microphone.

This rise of the far right isn’t happening despite Labour, it’s happening because of them.

Reform supporters scream on social media that disabled people are lazy, that we make excuses. Is that how we’re supposed to live now? Constantly justifying our existence? Fighting for scraps in a system designed to humiliate us?

Let me be clear: a disability is any long-term physical or mental condition that substantially limits a person’s ability to carry out normal daily activities. That includes chronic illness, pain, fatigue, autism, mental health conditions, sensory impairments, and more. You don’t need to be in a wheelchair to be disabled—but even a “fraction” out of normal comes with massive real-world consequences: lost income, reduced independence, increased isolation.

So it’s not for the government to decide who is “disabled enough.” Disability isn’t a competition. It’s a reality, and cutting lifelines only deepens the suffering.

Labour once claimed to stand for justice. For working people. For the voiceless. But now, their actions are indistinguishable from the very cruelty they swore to end.

By walking away from disabled people, by abandoning their commitment to the UNCRPD, and by choosing cuts over care, Labour aren’t just failing, they’re enabling the rise of something far more dangerous.

And if they continue on this path, they’ll have no right to act surprised when the wolves they fed start circling all of us.