Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats today pledged to encourage more disabled people to stand for Parliament and to highlight the current under-representation of disabled people in British politics.

He met with Juliet Williams, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown, who is disabled, and promised to do more to remove the many access and attitudinal barriers that prevent disabled people from entering politics.

His support came during disability charity Scope’s Time to Get Equal Week (June 8-14) which is campaigning to ensure that disabled people’s voices are heard at every level of society. Nick said: “Time to Get Equal is a fantastic campaign and encouraging more disabled people into Parliament couldn’t be more timely. With all eyes on Westminster following weeks of revelations over MPs’ expenses, now is our chance to shine a light over all that is wrong with our out-of-date and out-of-touch political system – including the woeful under-representation of disabled people in politics.

“The Liberal Democrats are looking forward to working with Scope to help remove the barriers that make it difficult for disabled people to get into Parliament. Disabled People deserve the same opportunities as everyone else, and our politics will be better for it.”

Juliet Williams, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Brighton Kemptown, said: “People who live with disabilities have often overcome personal challenges and adversity. They are resourceful people who are used to holding the system to account and working together in support groups and community organisations. This in itself gives them valuable transferable skills to represent their communities, whether they seek to do so at local, national or European level. People covered by the Disability Discrimination Act amount to 20% of the population – can we afford to be overlooking such a large talent pool?

Scope has long campaigned to increase the representation of disabled people in politics. It has identified a number of barriers which prevent disabled people running for political office. These include a lack of financial support to fund equipment or information in alternative formats, a lack of peer support networks, as well as deeply entrenched perceptions that disabled people don’t make good MPs.

While significant progress has been made on increasing the number of women MPs and those from black and ethnic minority communities, disabled people are generally shut out of mainstream politics at a national level.

Abigail Lock, Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at Scope, said: “We are delighted with this tremendous show of support from Nick Clegg to encourage more disabled MPs and increase the diversity of British politics.

We recognise that becoming an MP is a highly competitive process but too many high calibre disabled parliamentary candidates are being passed over largely because of inflexible selection processes, access barriers and assumptions about what MPs should look like.  Scope welcomes this strong backing from the Liberal Democrat party and deeply values its commitment to increasing the numbers of disabled people in Parliament.”

Scope has proposed a number of measures to help increase the representation of disabled people. These include developing an ‘access to public life’ fund to provide financial support to approved candidates who need help with meeting the additional costs associated with their disability, such as accessible transport or British Sign Language interpretation.

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