Disability Policy – Where Do They Stand?

Where do Wales’s five largest parties stand on disability issues?

Conservative Party

When the Conservative Party, then in government, launched its 2024 election manifesto, Disability Rights UK noted that there was no BSL interpreter present to relay information to deaf viewers.

Commitments included:

·      An increase in NHS spending above inflation every year.

·      Improving accessibility at train stations.

·      Improving SEN school resources, with the creation of 15 new free schools for children with special educational needs.

·      A new law to provide better treatment and support for people with severe mental health needs.

The manifesto also outlined plans to slim down the benefits system, announcing:

·      A reform of disability benefits, so they are better targeted and reflect “genuine needs”

·      A reform to work capability assessments.

·      An overhaul of the fit note process so that people are not being signed off sick as a default.

·      Introducing tougher sanction rules so people refusing to take up suitable jobs after 12 months on benefits could have benefits removed entirely.

It also pledged to explore bidding for the 2031 Special Olympics World Summer Games. Dan White, policy and campaigns officer at Disability Rights UK, commented that “the Conservative manifesto was light on rights and services for disabled people. The intended benefit reforms will worry millions of disabled people living in poverty.”

Where does the party stand now that it is no longer in government?

In October 2025, the disability news service reported that “leading Tories have used misleading and offensive statements at their annual conference in Manchester to scapegoat disabled people who rely on support from the benefits system and whip up hostility towards them”.

The disability news service further reported that:

The most offensive line may have come from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who told the conference yesterday: “I stand for a society where… the vulnerable are supported, but where freeloaders are told where to get off.”

Badenoch also appeared to suggest that she supported allowing disability hate speech to pass unpunished, telling Tory members: “I stand for a society where free speech trumps hurt feelings.”

The party also announced plans to prevent anyone other than British citizens from receiving social security support, if it regains power. It appears that this would apply to disabled people with significant support needs and those who have legally worked in the country for years through indefinite leave to remain.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/tory-trio-mislead-party-conference-on-disability-benefits-as-they-stir-up-hostility-towards-disabled-claimants/ 

Green Party

The Green Party aligns closely with Disability Rights UK's position, endorsing the social model of disability, supporting the incorporation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into UK law, and co-producing policies with disabled people.

Key policy proposals include restoring disability benefit values, reforming intrusive welfare tests, improving transport and housing accessibility, and ensuring free transport for disabled pupils aged 16-18. As with its environmental policies, the Green Party’s plans are admirable, but their economic proposals are less convincing. We look forward to seeing their take on financial management in 2026.

Labour

In its first year in government, Labour proposed significant reforms to disability benefits, targeting savings by focusing support on those with “higher needs”. This included an additional eligibility requirement of scoring at least 4 points on a single PIP daily living activity to receive the daily living component. This was projected to notably reduce income for millions of disabled people. After protests by its own MPs, Labour decided not to cut benefits for existing claimants and stated that cuts will only affect future claimants. On employment, Labour plans to introduce disability pay gap reporting and ensure that disabled people starting work can return to benefits without needing a reassessment. Labour also plans to introduce specialist employment advisors in Jobcentres and create a Reasonable Adjustment Passport to help disabled people find work.

Liberal Democrats

In 2024 Lib Dem party leader Ed Davey, a carer to a disabled son, announced measures including:

·      Creation of a National Care Agency. 

·      Introduction of free personal care for older or disabled people at home.

·      Increased carer allowance and wider eligibility

·      Introduction of a statutory guarantee of regular respite breaks for unpaid carers.

·      Introduction of paid carer’s leave, building on the entitlement to unpaid employee leave.

·      Making caring a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, requiring employers to make reasonable adjustments for employees with caring responsibilities.

·      Introducing a young carers pupil premium as part of young carer education guarantees.

·      Implementing policies of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, affirming and giving equal rights to disabled people in the UK.

Disability Rights UK has stated that Lib Dem policies put care and disability at the heart of its campaigning.

Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru’s stated policies include the following:

·      Adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People into UK law to ensure accessibility and protect the human rights of disabled people.

·      Free social care for all disabled and older people, without means-testing, and abolition of the distinction between nursing and personal care.

·      No welfare reforms that cut benefits and increase poverty for disabled people (and Plaid MPs have a track record of voting against these reforms).

·      Devolution of more powers to the Welsh Senedd to implement its disability policies, including those related to mental health and social care.

·      Powers over mental health care to be devolved to Wales, with reforms to the Mental Health Act emphasising patient-centricity and co-production.

·      Creation of an Autism Act for Wales.

·      Appropriate physical accessibility for disabled pupils at all Welsh schools.

·      Development of a national service strategy in partnership with organizations representing blind, partially sighted, and deaf people.

Plaid’s policies have been praised by disability rights campaigners and educators.

Reform UK

Reform UK's position on disability benefits, as stated in their 2024 manifesto, includes reforming the system by making assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Work Capability face-to-face, with independent medical assessments to verify eligibility. In October 2025 Lee Anderson, Reform UK MP and the party’s Chief Whip, described the Motability scheme allowing disabled people to access funding for cars through the benefits system as “an absolute scandal”. He suggested that disabled people should return to using the Invacar - short for “Invalid Carriage” - a small single-seater microcar that was used in the mid-20^th century. It was illegal to carry a passenger in an Invacar, which isolated the disabled user from friends and family. Disabled people were prosecuted for using their Invacars to take their children to school, punishing them for attempting to fulfil the duties of a parent.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has claimed that doctors are "massively over-diagnosing" children and adults with special educational needs and mental health conditions. Mr Farage has no medical training and has not substantiated these claims. The National Autistic Society and Rethink Mental Illness have called his statements "wildly inaccurate" and "out of touch", arguing that they perpetuate stigma and ignore the reality of long delays in diagnosis and support.

Critics have highlighted a lack of specific, detailed plans for supporting disabled people in Reform UK’s policy statements, arguing that the party’s proposals have not been thought through and would deepen poverty and exclusion.