26th June 2024
bbc.co.uk/accessall
Access All – Election episode
03
Presented by Emma Tracey
EMMA- Hello,
I’m Emma Tracey and this is the BBC’s weekly disability and mental health
podcast. As part of Access All’s General Election coverage we have invited
representatives from the UK’s seven main political parties to take part over
several episodes. We’ve been putting your questions and your concerns to them,
and we’ve been exploring their policies around disability and mental health.
This episode is all about the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National
Party. First we speak to Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats.
MUSIC- Theme
music.
EMMA- Hi,
Ed.
ED- Hi
there, hi Emma.
EMMA- Now,
Ed, we have some questions that we’re asking all the parties that we’re
speaking to. And the first one is, you have 45 seconds now to tell us about
you.
ED- Well,
I’m a dad, father of two wonderful children, and my family keep me grounded.
I’ve got a lovely boy, John, who’s 16, who’s got some severe disabilities. He’s
got an undiagnosed neurological condition which means he can’t walk or talk, so
that means he needs 24/7 care, so we’ve done a lot on caring. But it’s about
making him as independent as he can be, but he’s a key part of my life and we
have a wonderful relationship and it's great. What it’s meant is I see the
world differently I think from before. Although I’d had many constituents who I
campaigned for on disability issues, being a dad of a disabled young man is
different and you see challenges in a different way.
EMMA- Okay,
you’re done. Thank you, Ed, that’s really helpful. Now, the next question we’re
asking all the parties is, how many disabled candidates are the Liberal
Democrats fielding this time?
ED- I
wish I knew the answer to that. I’m sorry I don’t. I know we’ve got a few
who’ve got a number of disabilities. Let me give you one example: our candidate
in Torbay in Devon, Steve Darling, he has very poor sight, he has a guide dog,
very poor vision, a little bit of peripheral vision but basically he can’t see.
So, he’s a candidate who we hope we can get into parliament.
EMMA- The
other question we’re asking all the parties is has your manifesto been produced
in easy read and other formats and did it happen at the same time as your
regular format manifesto?
ED- Well,
it’s mainly been produced online, so the answer is yes, we’ve really tried to
make it as accessible as possible. When we set out we said, look, most people
don’t buy manifestos in a newsagents anymore, they get them online, so we’ve
got an easy read version online. And hopefully it comes up to muster. We can
always do better, so if people are having problems please let us know. We’re
very keen that anyone can access it whatever their disability.
EMMA- Okay,
thank you. Now we’re going to talk about care. And lots of people would say
that the social care system is in crisis. I’ve had disabled people tell me over
the last couple of years on this podcast that they have a care package but they
can’t get carers. I’ve got other disabled people saying that they can’t save
any money because if they do they will have to pay for their care, so that
means they can’t get on the property ladder, they can’t go on holiday. We had
one guy say he had to pay for his carer to go on holiday because he’d saved up
to go on the holiday. What would you do to try and fix this massive issue?
ED- Well,
we’ve put social care alongside the health service at the centre of our
manifesto actually. And a big part of that is our idea of introducing free
personal care so that provision is based on need, not ability to pay. Hopefully
that will help a lot of disabled people. But as you were saying in your
introduction to this question, there’s a lot of people who can’t get carers
because those carers aren’t there. So, you have to have a social care workforce
plan, and you need to value carers more, both financially, so we’re campaigning
for a higher carer’s minimum wage. There’s a new minimum wage for carers at £2
an hour above the national minimum wage to try to attract more people into the
profession. We want to establish a Royal College of Care Workers so we can
improve recognition and career progression. And it’s those sorts of measures
that I think would mean that we get more people into care and so that carers
would be there. So, it’s partly making it more affordable, and it’s partly
making sure there are people in the profession.
EMMA- But
how would you fund that? That sounds quite expensive and already the bill is
quite high; how would you fund it?
ED- Our
whole health and care package is about £9 billion. That’s broken down into
things that are really NHS and some that are care. So, let me focus on the care
package. The personal care programme we’ve costed at £2.7 billion, taking into
some money that’s in the system for capping care costs. But also we've
calculated about £1 billion for our higher wage policy. So, about £3.7 billion,
maybe a bit more than that, about £4 billion. And we’re going to pay for that
by reversing the tax cuts that the Conservatives have given to the big banks.
So, the big banks have had since 2016 some tax cuts, and if you reverse those
back to what it was in 2016 you raise £4.3 billion. So, that would pay for our
care plan. And so free personal care and a higher carer’s minimum wage are
probably our two biggest ones.
EMMA- And
what are health and social care budgets that you’re looking to trial? Because
obviously people have personal budgets just now, but disabled people are always
looking for more autonomy and trying to be more independent, or some are, the
ones who want to be. What would that look like?
ED- Well,
there’s a whole set of different issues there. It can be more independent in
work where we need to make sure that there’s more rights for people in work. It
may be helping them get more care. Let me give you another example: this is
coming out of our welfare budget, but where we’re wanting unpaid carers to get
a fair deal, because a lot of disabled people rely on family for some
of their care.
EMMA- But
are we specifically talking about the budget? You mentioned in your manifesto
wanting to trial health and social care budgets.
ED- Oh
yeah, sorry.
EMMA- And
maybe it’s something you don’t know as much about.
ED- Sorry,
I was at cross purposes there. Yeah, health and care budgets are really
important for giving people independence. I mean, in the case of my own son,
but I would say this about other constituents, we find that if we get the money
in a budget, and we’re held to for that budget, we can get it more
flexible. If we’re provided with a care directly we have to dance to the tune
of whoever is providing it. And that’s just not really fair. If you want to
give people more independence it is better to make sure that those health and
care budgets are given to either the individual or, if they need an advocate,
family member or elsewhere to that person.
EMMA- It’s
giving people more choice?
ED- Yeah,
absolutely.
EMMA- Can
we talk now about unpaid carers, because you mentioned unpaid carers there?
Half of claimants have a family income of £21,000, and seven in ten of those
who are not in paid work say that they’re not in paid work because of a carer
responsibility. It’s been in the news a lot lately, there have been lots of
articles about unpaid carers getting a rough deal. What would you do to help
them, to help their lives be a bit easier? I mean, this is something you really
do understand.
ED- Yeah,
I do [laughs], partly through my constituents but also having been a carer most
of my life. I was a young carer because my dad died when I was four and my mum
was terminally ill from when I was 12 to 15 when she died; then my nan and
granddad looked after me, and I looked after my nana when she was frail; and
now I have a disabled son. So, I’ve done a lot of carer and I’m still a carer
now [laughs] with my wife. It is tough. It affects your ability to earn money.
We’re very fortunate, so it’s not really for people like me. But I know lots of
people who really struggle financially as a result of their disabilities and
their caring responsibilities.
So,
what would we do? We would increase the Carer’s Allowance significantly,
starting off with £20 a week, we’d expand eligibility for it. The earnings
limit would have to go up significantly. What we’ve seen in the scandal
recently is that when people get to the earnings limit it’s a cliff edge, and
so the DWP is clawing back Carer’s Allowance in huge amounts from people who’ve
got no money. And I think that’s wrong. I think that should be stopped. I think
we should frankly write off all that because the system is wrong. We should get
rid of the cliff edge and completely reform Carer’s Allowance.
EMMA- That
sounds really expensive as well, Ed. How would you fund that?
ED- It’s
just over £1 billion. It’s part of our overall welfare package. I think it’s
very affordable. I should basically, Emma, say that we’ve published our costed
manifesto; it’s got all these policies in, like the carers and the free
personal care and the minimum wage that we described, a tax rise we’d do for
that with reversing the tax cut on banks. But overall we’ve got a whole set of
different ideas, whether it’s, for example, reforming capital gains so billionaires
don’t pay a lower tax than people who are in work; we’ve got a tax on the oil
and gas companies and on the social media companies. So, there are a number of
corporates who are doing really, really well and some billionaires doing well,
and we think ordinary people can’t afford higher taxes. The cost of living tax
has already gone up massively under the Conservatives. But we do need the money
to pay for things like increasing Carer’s Allowance. So, that’s what we’re
proposing.
EMMA- Ed,
we’ve had a question in from someone called Amanda Langley. We’ve been asking
our listeners to tell us what they want to know coming up to this General
Election, to tell us what they want us to focus on. Amanda asks, ‘Will the next
government treat disabled people with care and comion?’ And she talks about
Personal Independence Payments and the consultation that the government
launched just before the General Election was called, and she says, ‘Would you
continue with that?’.
ED- I’m
grateful, Amanda, for that question. What I would say about Personal
Independence Payments is the assessment process needs to be changed. That’s the
key thing for me. It’s not transparent, and there are too many unnecessary
reassessments, and some of them are done in an informal way and I don’t think
that’s fair to people. They’re not given the during those assessments
that people need, and they’re not being done in a robust way.
I
should put my cards on the table: my son has just moved from Disability Living
Allowance to PIP because he turned 16, and my wife had to fill out the huge
form. What I’m worried about, and I see this with my constituents, is the
reassessments. In so many cases I deal with when I’m representing constituents
who are potentially facing a tribunal is their condition hasn’t changed, if
anything it’s got worse, it was never going to get any better; and I don’t see
why people’s time is wasted. And they get very anxious and alarmed by the
reassessment.
EMMA- So,
what would you do differently? The government’s aim is to find out what people
need to maybe change how the payments are made, change how assessments are
done. Would you continue with the process that they have started in of,
like, the consultation is ongoing just now so that has to happen anyway? Or
would you just go back to the drawing board and do things in a totally
different way?
ED- What
we would need to do I think is find a way where if people could be entitled to
more help that that is done in a way which doesn’t undermine the help they’re already
getting. I think if people knew that they were getting assessed in a way which
would increase their they’re going to be less worried about that. Now,
there may be some people who need to be reassessed; I’m not saying no one would
need to be reassessed. But I’ve actually got quite cross when I’ve seen
constituents who immediately it’s obvious, it’s self-evident that their
condition wasn’t going to have improved, and yet the way that they are dealt
with by the DWP and the authorities and these people who carry out these
assessments is as if, you know, we’re going to check on you to see whether
you’ve suddenly miraculously recovered. That shouldn’t be the culture, it
shouldn’t be the approach. There’s no reason why you couldn’t receive a letter
to say, ‘We’re going to keep your Personal Independence Payment as it is, but
we do want to see whether or not you need any more help, and we’re happy to
assess you for that on that basis’. You know if it was that sort of culture [laughs]
I think it would be transformative.
EMMA- Can
we talk about mental health for a minute? Another service that’s massively,
massively overstretched at the moment. And one of the things that you said that
you would do in your manifesto, should you be re-elected, is to stop people
with learning disabilities and autistic people being kept in mental health
hospitals when they should be in the community. Now, we had a mum whose
daughter had been in hospital for years, when everybody knew she should be in
the community, and would be able to be if everything was in place for her. It’s
a very costly process, you say that. How would you reverse that? How would you
stop people being put in mental health hospitals when they shouldn’t be?
ED- I
think you would need much better investment in community mental health
services. I’ve been shocked that the services are just not good enough. And if
I would say one aspect of a health service – I mean, there’s a number we want
to reform – but one of them that needs most reform is probably mental health.
And we’ve tried to do it, tried to make sure mental health is treated on parity
with physical health, but the services aren’t there. And I particularly think
community mental health services aren’t there. If you can help in the community,
where frankly it’s cheaper to do so, you can make a real, real difference. And
I think prevention is so key. We’ve talked about mental health professionals in
schools, in primary and secondary schools; we’ve talked about walk-in hubs for
young people who are struggling with their mental health; we’ve talked about
regular check-ups for people at key points in their lives, sometimes when they
retire people have mental health problems. To be honest it’s more cost
effective.
EMMA- Ed
Davey you’ve been with us for around 15 minutes. Can you tell me in summary
what the Liberal Democrats would offer disabled people if they were elected
into government after 4th July?
ED- Well,
I hope a complete change of the way we think about disabled people, both making
sure that they get more , but also there are many disabled people who
can offer huge amounts and want to, want to work, want to be part of the
community in different ways. The joy I get from my son when he's able to be
more independent on something, and I see disabled people when they are enabled
to be more independent to do things, it’s transformative for them, but actually
it means that the wider society benefits too. I just think you’ve got to take a
much more positive, affirmative approach.
EMMA- Ed
Davey, thank you for ing me.
ED- Thank
you.
EMMA- Thank
you so much to Ed Davey for talking to me. Now, listening to that interview
with Ed Davey from the Liberal Democrats was Kate Lamble. Kate’s from More or
Less, our sister podcast which aims to make sense of the numbers around us.
She’s heard that interview and she’s been looking into how it all adds up:
KATE- So,
Ed Davey mentioned there one of the central Liberal Democrat pledges this
election: that they plan to provide free personal care by spending £2.7 billion
a year by 2028/29 on top of existing plans. Now, that sounds like a lot. But
researchers at the Health Foundation have previously estimated such a policy
would cost more than twice as much. And that’s why Ed Davey added a caveat there
that they were taking into other money which is in the system for
capping care. Now, what he’s referring to here is a previous delayed plan to
introduce a lifetime cap on personal care of £86,000. That though doesn’t exist
yet. It’s due to be introduced next year. But that hasn’t stopped the Lib Dems;
they are using it as a building block for their proposed upgrade, and have
suggested it’ll provide £3.6 billion a year towards their plans. Now, the
Conservatives are still committed to this cap in their current manifesto. But
there is another problem here: the Institute for Fiscal Studies say the funding
which was previously set aside for this has already been eaten up and absorbed
into paying for existing care services. And the Conservatives haven’t set out
any additional funding to pay for their cap. So, they need to explain how
they’re going to pay for it, and I’m afraid so do the Lib Dems. Despite what Ed
Davey says, this isn’t extra money sloshing about in the system. They seem to
have built a pledge upon a pledge almost like a house of sand.
EMMA- Thanks
to Kate Lamble there for her analysis. And Kate will be back after this
interview with Marion Fellows, disability spokesperson from the Scottish
National Party.
MUSIC-
EMMA- Marion
Fellows, thank you for ing me on Access All.
MARION- My
pleasure, my pleasure indeed.
EMMA- Marion,
there’s a few questions that we are asking all the party representatives that
we’ve been speaking to, and the first one of those is, you’ve got 45 seconds,
Marion, to tell us about you.
MARION- Well,
where do I start? I’m a mother, a granny. I became disability spokesperson
about four or five years ago, and since then it’s become a real ion; though
sometimes I think, why am I doing this, because I’m able-bodied, and all I can
really do is be empathetic. But it has become a huge part of my life and I’m
very ionate about making sure that disabled people get all their rights and
that they are treated equitably.
EMMA- Marion,
how many disabled candidates has the Scottish National Party got standing?
MARION- I
don’t know is the honest answer. If they haven’t declared I’m not going to out
them.
EMMA- That’s
fair enough, Marion. Research from the Disability Policy Centre says that they
found two disabled candidates from the Scottish National Party. But obviously,
as you say, not everybody discloses.
So,
in of your manifesto, Marion, is it available in different formats like
easy read? And did that happen at the same time as your regular manifesto came
out?
MARION- I
think so. Generally things are put in appropriate formats. The SNP is very
keen, especially on things like signers and so on as well, whenever there’s any
broadcasts or anything done.
EMMA- Yes,
it was very stark during that the pandemic that the SNP always had a BSL
interpreter at the briefings. Just to say that the easy read version for people
with learning disabilities is not available at the time of this recording.
Interestingly,
the SNP manifesto has only one sentence specifically on disabled people and
carers, both of those things. Now, would you say that’s enough to address all
the complex problems and barriers that face disabled people in Scotland just
now?
MARION- No,
it definitely isn’t. But the whole thrust of what’s been said is to do, not just
for disabled people, but the Scottish social security system I think is
testament to the SNP’s endeavours for disabled people. Because what we’ve done
is taken what’s a very cruel DWP system and actually turned it round to treat
people with dignity, fairness and respect, and to make sure that people get
help in applying for the Adult Disability Payment, for example, Child
Disability Payment and the Carer’s Supplement. Because we are very keen that
people know what they can have and making sure that they get it. So, that’s
where I think the SNP scores very highly.
EMMA- But
one sentence though, Marion, to be fair is not a lot. A lot of the other
manifestos have quite a lot about disability in them, and we were surprised to
just see that one sentence. I will go on to talk about the Scottish Adult
Disability Payment in a minute.
MARION- Some
of the things that we’ve been calling for over the years, you can’t pack
everything into a manifesto. And I do realise that that may appear as though
disabled people aren’t being thought of but that’s not, definitely not the
case. So, the kinds of things that we’ve been calling for at Westminster, some
of the things that other parties are calling for need to be devolved to England
and Wales and Northern Ireland, whereas in Scotland we already have some of the
powers, but not nearly enough to make life really better.
EMMA- Well,
you have been standing up in Westminster when you were there before the
election and talking about the the Scottish National Party has for
scrapping proposed punitive, as you call it, welfare reforms. How would you
continue to lobby for that change if you were elected?
MARION- Well,
I think my voice has been heard quite a bit. I think also when we were third
party I had quarterly meetings with the relevant minister, I kept in touch with
what was going on in Scotland, and I kept banging the drum. Now, I know that’s
absolutely no help in many ways, but it means that disability rights and
actions that are required to help disabled people right across the UK are never
just set aside if someone like me is always up on their feet shouting about
them. I mean, I’ve worked closely with lots of different disability
organisations and it’s always been strange to me that whenever the disability
minister turns up I’m there as well, because I think she needs to hear the
lived experience of disabled people, and that’s not always what comes down
through DWP. They’re very good at talking to some people, but not actually
taking into all the lived experiences that would really help make
effective and good working relationships and would actually help disabled
people. In Scotland we very seldom do anything that…a consultation always
includes the right organisations that represent and also individuals in the
disabled community.
EMMA- Well
we asked our audience for questions and what they wanted to talk about coming
up to the General Election. We specifically asked as well about the Scottish
National Party. And Yale got in touch on X and said that they didn’t feel seen
by the Scottish National Party, and they said that the Adults Disability
Payment took absolute years and hasn’t improved the situation for them.
MARION- The
delays were simply because [ironic laugh] I think because people were being
encouraged to apply, people who had given up trying to apply for PIP. And I
think to be perfectly reasonable you’re right, there were delays; it was
because of the volume that we got applying in Scotland simply because it was
easier, they were given help.
EMMA- But
were you not ready for that? Did you not expect that though?
MARION- Well,
you can only go with the idea of what was there already, and because so many
people had switched off, and I suppose because we did such a good job of
advertising the disability payments that people in Scotland could now directly
apply for, yes we were caught in the hop, absolutely, we’d agree with that. But
measures have been put in place and it’s nothing like as bad now as it was; in
fact it’s much, much improved. And also there’s often in Scotland people come
to your home to help you apply, so that slows things down a bit.
EMMA- I
mean, scrapping the welfare reforms, various things that we’ve mentioned
already, they cost a lot of money. And one of the revenue raisers the SNP has put
forward is reing the EU.
MARION- Yes.
EMMA- Which
would it be fair to say that’s unlikely to happen? So, where else would money
come from to help disabled people in Scotland?
MARION- Well,
the Scottish government has already raised £1.5 billion extra from what we get
from the UK government in the block grant through a progressive tax system
where people who earn less pay less, and people who earn more pay more. We also
fund free prescriptions; we’ve introduced a child payment for impoverished
families where 100,000 children have been lifted out of poverty because of that
action. So, we look at benefits as something people are entitled to and they
should get. And we use a progressive tax system to raise additional funds for
that.
EMMA- Another
thing that the SNP has promised is to try and halt the DWP repayment demands…
MARION- [Sighs]
EMMA- …on
people who get carer allowance, something that [laughs] you made a noise when I
talked about that because it’s something that’s been all over the news and it’s
hit people hard, it’s hard for people to understand. How would you do that? It
was a big thing to do.
MARION- It
is a big thing to do. I work with people, I mean I would work with Sir Ed Davey
who’s been championing this for quite a long while. The only way to get
anything done in the UK parliament if you are not in power is to work with
other parties and to push the agenda forward. Which is exactly what happened
with Post Office Horizon issues: there was now a Tory peer, then a Tory MP, and
a Labour MP that I worked with very closely in another role as chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on post offices, and that’s the way forward.
EMMA- So,
you have some experience of…
MARION- Yes,
oh yes.
EMMA- …lobbying
on a big scandal or a big, big issue?
MARION- Yes,
I do.
EMMA- Can
we talk about social care? Because social care is said to be free in Scotland for
those who need it; however we hear about the fact that the thresholds have gone
up for people who apply for care and maybe less get it than they used to
because local authorities aren’t getting the money that they need, and then you
might get a care package but it doesn’t pay enough for the hours that you need
in of personal care. Have you got any plans for changing or modifying the
system in the next few years?
MARION- Some
of the change will have to come through money that we raise ourselves in the
tax regime we have in Scotland. But actually the real issue is to make sure
that whoever’s the next government starts to spend money for public projects
and things like paying better benefits. I mean, we’ve got a 40-year low in
payments and yet we’ve got a 40-year high inflation scheme. So, we really need
to get a UK government, because the Scottish government can only raise so much
money on its own; the majority of its money comes from the block grant. So, until
the UK government starts spending on issues like disability payments, stops
hounding people with disabilities and actually recognises the valuable
contribution they make and can make to society. There are many, many disabled
people want to work, many can’t; the ones who can’t should be paid at least the
living wage, and that’s not happening.
EMMA- But
there isn’t free social care in other parts of the UK for everybody, and there
is in Scotland. Is that the problem, is it maybe too much to ask?
MARION- In
Scotland we want to look after our citizens, we want to make life better for
them. And with the limited powers we have and the limited budgets we have we’re
trying to do that. In fact we’re quite successful at it. But there comes a
limit when inflation was running as high as it was over the last year, the
money we got from the UK government is worth less than it would have been had
we not had high inflation. So, it really does restrict what the Scottish
government can do. But in spite of huge restrictions we are absolutely
determined to continue to treat all people with dignity, fairness and respect.
EMMA- Another
thing that’s really, really important to our audience is housing. We’ve heard
many, many stories in recent times about people in very unsuitable housing, the
lack of accessible housing, including Scottish stories, quite big Scottish
stories. There’s nothing specifically about accessible housing in the SNP
manifesto. Why? And what will you do to help sort out the housing situation?
MARION- Yes,
well the Scottish government has built more houses per head of population than
anywhere else in the UK. There are obviously improvements that could be made.
Nobody’s sitting on their laurels and saying in Scotland we’ve got it all
right. I mean, the number of new houses that are being built here far outweighs
what’s happening in the rest of the UK.
EMMA- And
are they accessible?
MARION- Not
all of them are accessible. I couldn’t off the top of my head tell you what percentage
are, but most of them are built in such a way that the doors are wide enough,
there’s ramps, there’s all of that. Now, not everybody needs that, but some
people need more than that, so then adaptations can take place.
EMMA- Marion,
you’ve been with us for 15 minutes now. In summary, what are the SNP offering Scottish
voters on 4th July?
MARION- We’re
offering to continue with the work that we’ve done, especially for disabled
people. We’re calling for full powers over social security and employment,
because that would mean that we could do work that would help stop the Work
Capability Assessment changes, Personal Independence Payment reforms. I’m so
sad that my bill for a social energy tariff died the day the election was
announced, it wasn’t included. And these sorts of issues are the issues that
the SNP will fight for at Westminster to improve the lives of disabled people
across the UK.
EMMA- Marion
Fellows from the Scottish National Party, thank you so much for ing me on
Access All.
MARION- Thank
you for having me.
EMMA- Listening
to that interview with Marion Fellows, the disability spokesperson from the
Scottish National Party was Kate Lamble. Kate’s from our sister podcast, More
or Less, which tries to make sense of the numbers around us. Kate’s heard the
interview and she’s been looking into how it all adds up:
KATE- Marion
Fellows spoke there about the SNP’s record, and she mentioned 100,000 children
have been lifted out of poverty due to the Scottish Child Payment. So, this
claim comes from a Scottish government report which came out in February. It
uses modelling to predict the future impact of policies and it compares that to
what it thinks would have happened without them, and the gap between the two it
claims would have been the number of children kept out of poverty. However, we
have to keep a couple of things in mind here. Firstly, the report itself knows
that this includes lots of assumptions and simplifications, so it says the
exact numbers should all be treated with a bit of caution. And secondly, while
the report predicts Scottish government policies as a whole will keep 100,000
children out of relative poverty in 2024/25, the Scottish Child Payment is a
smaller part of this, predicted to keep 60,000 children out of relative poverty
this current year. And there are different ways of measuring poverty. So,
relative poverty compares household income after housing costs to the median, a
type of average income that year. Less than 60% of the median means the
household is in relative poverty. Absolute poverty looks at the same statistic
but compares it to the UK median income in 2010/11. And in the model for both
what will happen with or without these policies the absolute poverty rate rises
between 2023/24, and 2024/25. The report says this is driven in part by the
discontinuation of UK government cost of living payments.
EMMA- Thank
you there to Kate Lamble, Marion Fellows from the Scottish National Party for
talking to me, and also thanks to Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats. Now,
already on your Access All feed we’ve got interviews with the Labour Party and
the Conservative Party, and still to come is an episode with interviews with
Plaid Cymru and with the Green Party. We’ll also have analysis of the Reform UK
manifesto with BBC political correspondent David Cornock. Reform UK were unable
to put forward somebody for an interview.
So,
stay tuned and please get in touch with us in all the usual ways. You can email
accessall@bbc.co.uk, and you can find
us on social media, we’re on Instagram and X @BBCAccessAll.
[Trailer for Newscast]
ADAM- Hello,
it’s Adam Fleming here. If you’re listening to this it means you’ve made it to
the end of this episode, which means you might like episodes of our podcast,
Newscast, where at the moment we’re focusing on the UK General Election. With
the help of my broadcasting best buddies, Laura Kuenssberg and Chris Mason, we
pick apart the big stories of the General Election campaign each day, and we
try and work out what’s really, really going on. We publish episodes every day,
sometimes more than one, and that means that you are guaranteed to be up to
date. Listen any time on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
