Mark That Disabled Green Party Guy

It is with a heart that feels really heavy, and feeling a sense of urgency and dread that I cannot shake, which draws me to put "pen to paper". Recent reports that the government is considering stripping parents of their right to properly appeal decisions about their children’s Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are nothing short of chilling. Appeals will just be limited to just the process, and not the actual decision, is, as leading experts have called it, a “two-finger salute to the rule of law .” For them to justify this by pointing to a 96-99% parent success rate at Tribunal is an admission of catastrophic failure—not by parents, but by a system that is consistently letting our most vulnerable children down. There are over 600,000 children with EHCPs in England. This isn’t about statistics; it’s about childhoods, potential, and families being pushed to breaking point. Removing enforceable rights doesn’t magically meet needs. It leads to educational exc...

As the Green Party’s Disability Officer and a disability housing policy expert, I have reviewed the Council’s proposed borough-wide crackdown on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) .  My findings, detailed in a formal letter to Cabinet Member Councillor Richard Overton, reveal a policy so deeply flawed, so casually cruel in its omission of disabled people, that it demands public condemnation. I am profoundly disappointed, but sadly not surprised, that the Labour-run Cabinet has allowed these proposals to reach public consultation. They should be deeply ashamed. Once again, in a glaring act of institutional thoughtlessness , the housing needs and rights of disabled people have been entirely omitted from their thinking. This isn’t just an oversight; it’s a failure of duty and a betrayal of some of our community’s most vulnerable residents. Let’s be clear: the technical flaws in the evidence base are severe enough to sink the proposal. The report confuses co...