I HAVE just returned from the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. Whilst the conference was informative and enjoyable overall, there was one small fly in the ointment: the protesters, or, to be fair, a few of the protesters. There was a large anti-cuts, anti-austerity protest on Sunday of last week, and, as far as I saw, it was loud, sometimes even to the point of being offensive, but not physically violent.
Things were not so good the rest of the time. Each morning on entry, and each evening on leaving, I had to run the gauntlet of some of the most offensive protestors I’ve ever seen or heard. I now know, beyond reasonable doubt, that I am “Tory scum”. It was shouted at me incessantly and very loudly.
However, last Tuesday I was singled out for particular attention. I have a condition known as Incomplete Tetraplegia; I am paralysed to varying degrees in all my limbs. This means that I can only walk a few meters, and even then I need a stick or crutches. For anything more I use an electric scooter. This means that I am not “just” “Tory scum”, but I am also a “traitor”.
The protestors had a number of wheelchairs occupied by skeletons with place cards round their necks saying “Passed Fit For Work”. To them, therefore, as a person with a disability, I should see Tories and especially Department of Work and Pensions Minister Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) as the Devil incarnate.
But, not only do I not take that view, but I actually hold up IDS as a hero for the poor, the downtrodden and the disabled. Several years ago he had his own epiphany. Often this is associated with his visit to Easterhouse, but in truth this was just one step on his personal journey. This led him to set up the Centre for Social Justice to put social justice at the heart of British politics. He was moved by shocking levels of disadvantage across the country to study the root causes of our acute social problems and to promote evidence-based, experience-led solutions to change lives and transform communities. He brought this approach with him in government.
This is the Conservative approach, attacking the root causes of issues. Helping people out of poverty, not with the sticking plaster of extra benefits, but by helping people into well-paid, secure jobs. Not by writing off people with disabilities like myself, but by saying “what can you do?”
Yes, there needs to be a benefits safety net for those who really can’t work, but there needs to be a flexible, supportive path back into work, free of artificial barriers and hurdles. This is what we offer: help finding a job; re-training or more practical assistance to overcome the limitations of a disability: and a flexible benefits system to ensure that taking a job will always mean more money in your pocket at the end of the week.
So, whilst I may yet be “Tory scum”, I am not a “traitor” to anyone.
Eric Holford
Conservation Candidate for Airdrie and Shotts,
Walston Cottage, Walston, Lanark.
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