Only 1% of MPs likely to be disabled following UK general election

New research (4th June 2024) from the Disability Policy Centre, shows only nine MPs with disabilities or long-term health conditions are predicted to get elected to Parliament at the general election on 4th July. 

This represents only 1% of all 650 MPs - a staggering shortfall when nearly 1 in 4 (24%) of the UK population has a disability and a fall from 14 MPs at the last parliament. 

Chloe Schendel-Wilson, Co-Founder and Director of the Disability Policy Centre, said: “How can you expect our political system to design fair and effective policies for disabled people when there’s next to no lived experience of disability in parliament? 

The story was covered in Big Issue magazine via an opinion piece from Chloe, the Metro and Politico in their newsletter. You can also listen to a discussion on BBC’s Access All podcast about disability representation in UK politics. 

Full press release below.

Only 1% of MPs likely to be disabled following UK general election - according to new research 

  • New analysis anticipates only 9 disabled MPs out of 650 (1%) likely to get elected - a drop from 14 MPs

  • Disabled people and people with long-term health conditions make up nearly 1 in 4 of UK population

  • UK’s only disability think tank calls for reform to end the “disability democracy deficit” in the UK

New research from the UK’s only disability think tank, the Disability Policy Centre, shows only nine MPs with disabilities or long-term health conditions are predicted to get elected to Parliament at the general election on 4th July. 

This represents only 1% of all 650 MPs - a staggering shortfall when nearly 1 in 4 (24%) of the UK population has a disability and a fall from 14 MPs at the last parliament. This includes five Labour MPs, two Liberal Democrat, one from the Scottish National Party and one Conservative.

The Disability Policy Centre points to discrimination, cost and accessibility as the main reasons for this “democratic disability deficit”. 

Through its own ‘Breaking Down Barriers’ research conducted in 2022, for example, the think tank found 82% of disabled people interviewed who were members of political parties felt they’d faced discrimination from their own party. 

Some disabled candidates also face additional costs such as for travel, British Sign Language interpreters and accessible technology, on top of the almost £1,000 a month extra cost of living burden already on disabled households. 

This is the first year since 2012 that centralised funding has not been provided for disabled candidates to cover some of the costs for standing, due to the scrapping of funding which has since been reinstated for future elections.

Some disabled voters also face accessibility challenges with turnout for disabled people estimated to be over 6% lower than those who aren’t disabled in general elections between 2010-2019. 

Chloe Schendel-Wilson, Co-Founder and Director of the Disability Policy Centre, said:

“How can you expect our political system to design fair and effective policies for disabled people when there’s next to no lived experience of disability in parliament? 

“Our new research exposes a disability democracy deficit in our politics which means the nearly 1 in 4 people across the country who are disabled are not being properly represented. This dramatic shortfall helps to explain why policies across welfare, housing and travel, to name a few, are continuing to fail disabled people.

“Despite the scale of this failure, the solutions are clear: reinstating financial support for disabled candidates cannot come soon enough and political parties need to definitively kick out all discrimination against disabled members. Doing this will enrich the experience of The House of Commons and enhance our democracy by bringing in new talent, creating the better policies for disabled people we so urgently need as well as wider society.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For additional details contact Louie Freeman-Bassett (Communications Consultant for the Disability Policy Centre) on louie@lfbcomms.com / 07748 102192 or Chloe Schendel-Wilson (Co-Founder and Head of the Disability Policy Centre) on chloe@dispolcentre.org.

Notes on the methodology

  • We conducted the research by analysing public social media history, candidate profiles and news coverage to produce an estimate of the number of disabled parliamentary candidates or those with long-term health conditions. 

  • We then used voting intention data (YouGov) to estimate the number of candidates likely to be elected as a member of parliament on 4th July. 

  • There remains the possibility of missed candidates given the definition of ‘disability’ is broad and how a person defines themselves is an individual choice. 

  • However, the approach we’ve used is the best available due to the lack of data collection and mandatory reporting from political parties.

  • Those who have not publicly declared they are disabled and do not necessarily define themselves as such, but have spoken about their experiences with a learning disability, invisible illness or neurodivergence, have also been accounted for. 

  • Our definition of ‘disabled’ is aligned with the UK Equality Act (2010) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents 

Additional data

Sources