Disabled people staged a sit-in outside parliament on Monday 2 September. It happened after security denied them entry to the building (which they’d previously been given permission for) to deliver copies of a book which is a damning exposé of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The (DWP) Department: not for Portcullis House, clearly
Representatives from UK Coalition of Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations were originally at Portcullis House to deliver copies of John Pring’s damning DWP book The Department. Despite previously arranging this with parliament they were told by security that they would not be allowed to enter as books are not allowed to be distributed within the parliamentary estate.
This is however not what the activists were there to do. They only intended to deliver the books to Labour Party MPs, which had been pre-arranged. They were then going to move onto an event focusing on DWP disability benefit cuts inside Portcullis House, which had also been booked and approved.
After trying to resolve the issue with security the activists had no choice but to stage a sit in outside Portcullis House.
‘We’re just gonna sit here, then’
Paula Peters of DPAC announced in the pouring rain:
They wont let us in, so we’re gonna sit here. This is your building. Lets take the entrances until this is sorted out.
This is disabled people’s response to the denial of our democratic rights. Disabled people are now having a sit in outside Portcullis House.
Upon being told that they would have to post the books individually, something they were assured Parliament would do, activists stacked them outside the entrance of Portcullis house. The Canary is now hearing that Police are trying to remove bags and boxes containing all 650 books from the entrance.
DWP and disability activists chanted “no more deaths from benefit cuts” as police tried to move them on:
#TheDepartment #NoMoreBenefitDeaths
🖤Breaking disabled people are now having a sit in outside portcullis house as we are not allowed in with post for MPs
We are now sitting in outside portcullis house doors
Please Share @Dis_PPL_Protest @RachelCDailey pic.twitter.com/yIjAKaonMS
— Paula Peters (@paulapeters2) September 2, 2024
Inclusion London tweeted:
No access for Disabled people who had legitimately booked a meeting room in Parliament? About deaths linked to government actions? Not allowed to bring books we’d had permission to bring. No access for anyone, then, we suppose.
Activists were originally there to deliver 650 copies of The Department, after raising over £7,000 to be able to send each MP a copy of the book. This is in the hope that the new Labour government will take notice of disabled people and not allow more of us to die under the DWP’s watch.
The books were all individually addressed to Labour MPs in black envelopes. Organisers were told prior to today that books would need to be scanned but that could be done at Portcullis House. But today they were told the opposite.
An event on the DWP and benefit-related deaths, trauma, and injuries was supposed to follow the delivery. This would’ve been a vital event for MPs.
Instead the group were joined on the pavement outside Portcullis House by some MPs who were sympathetic to the cause.
A dialogue over the DWP that didn’t even happen
The event was to be an open meeting with disabled activists, family members of those who died due to benefits, cuts and those who almost died. MPs were invited to attend the meeting, which was due to be hosted by Coronation Street actor and activist Cherylee Houston.
Houston told the Canary:
I’m astounded that something that has been prearranged with security to deliver John Pring’s book, yet now we’re sat outside Portcullis House being refused entrance.
We’re trying to have a dialogue with the government about the devastating and life threatening impact further cuts will have on disabled people. And they’re not even letting disabled people into a building that had been prearranged.
Activist and former EastEnders actor Lisa Hammond was also there at parliament. She told the Canary:
We are here to deliver John Pring’s book to all the MPs today here at Portcullis House. They are now not allowing us to do this despite it being pre-arranged and organised. We are not moving until we can get this issue resolved.
Róisín from Disability Rights UK told the Canary:
Whilst hundreds of Disabled people have died at the hands of the DWP, they have done everything in their power to invisibilise us and hide their complicity. We are currently sitting here, Disabled activists and family members of those who died as a result of benefits sanctions, with Parliament refusing to even let us in to deliver this damning evidence of DWP-sanctioned deaths of Disabled people. After over a decade of austerity, Governmental contempt for Disabled and marginalised people comes as little surprise – but at each step the blows continues to harm our communities more. We will continue to resist the systems that deem Disabled lives as disposable.
The group of over 30 people were warned by police that arrests would be made if they didn’t move, but this wasn’t followed through:
Instead as bags of books were blocking the doors to Portcullis House, security arranged for a van to collect the DWP-related books.
The event, which was again pre-approved with booked room, has since been cancelled by parliament. However, talks are ongoing to rearrange it.
Featured image and additional images supplied
