Disabled Vote 'Could Hold Key' to Marginal Seats

Ruth Cadbury says Brentford & Isleworth has high proportion of voters with disability

Disabled people could hold the key to election results in the most marginal constituencies in London, according to Labour Party election candidate Ruth Cadbury.

She said that in areas including the constituency of Brentford and Isleworth, where she is running for election, there are more disabled people than the majority of votes at the 2010 General Election.

The Conservative majority at the last election in 2010 was just 1,958 while the number of disabled people is eight times that at 16,372, she said.

Ruth Cadbury, said; "Throughout this campaign I have spoken to so many of the 16,000 disabled people in this constituency who have suffered under the Tory led coalition.
I met Claire, she is confined to a wheelchair with multiple physical and learning difficulties. At the moment Claire lives with her parents but the whole family are worried that in June she may lose her Independent Living Fund which pays for much-needed full-time carers and without which she won’t be able to remain at home with her family. Then there’s Sharon, who has a daughter with a learning disability, she is simply disgusted at the Conservatives attitude to the families of disabled children and their needs. And yesterday I went along Chiswick High Road with George, a wheelchair user for the last 3 years. He is now an advocate for accessible public places and transport and he showed me some of the hazards disabled people come across every day".

According to Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions, Rachel Reeves, the Labour Party intends to win disabled people’s support on May 7 by giving them a greater voice in public life, and a greater role in shaping the policies that affect them. There are an estimated 11.6 million disabled people in the UK,

Other marginal seats in London where disabled persons outnumber parliamentary majority include:

Croydon Central – 2,879 (parliamentary majority), 17,376 (Number of disabled people)

Hendon – 106 (parliamentary majority), 17,223 (Number of disabled people)

Brent Central – 1,345 (parliamentary majority), 20,014 (Number of disabled people)

Enfield North – 1,692 (parliamentary majority), 15,896 (Number of disabled people)

The general election takes place on May 7th. The candidates for the Brentford & Isleworth constituency are: Joseph Bourke (Liberal Democrat), Ruth Cadbury (Labour), Daniel Goldsmith (Green Party ), Richard Hendron (UKIP), Mary Macleod (Conservative)

May 1, 2015