CAMPAIGNERS from around the world gathered yesterday at a solidarity summit for deaf and disabled activists.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell addressed the crowd at The Old Town Hall in Stratford, London and reaffirmed Labour’s commitment to “scrap” work capability assessments. He condemned both the Tories and the Lib Dems, who had “used austerity as an excuse to destroy the welfare state.”
He added that the “worst thing” of the last eight years of austerity was “not just the cuts, it’s not just the brutality: it is denying disabled people the right to dream of a future.”
The government’s retreat on PIP still leaves 150,000 new universal credit claimants facing halved benefits from April 2026, creating a discriminatory two-tier welfare system that campaigners must continue fighting, writes DR DYLAN MURPHY



