Viewers noticed something curious happening in the background during last night’s Question Time showdown [VIDEO]

Question Time


Support us and go ad-free

Last night’s BBC Question Time featured a major showdown between journalist Aditya Chakrabortty and a Tory councillor. But viewers noticed something a little curious in the background. It appears Labour MP Stella Creasy found some common ground with the Tory councillor.

The showdown

Disabled viewers and their allies were thrilled with Chakrabortty for raising the issue of disabled people being sent “to their deaths” by Theresa May’s government. But his statement was not hyperbole. It is backed up by multiple studies; such as one by Oxford and Liverpool Universities. It found that the suicides of an “additional” 590 people were linked to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Work Capability Assessment (WCA); as were 279,000 additional cases of mental health issues and 725,000 additional antidepressants prescriptions. And as The Canary’s Steve Topple points out:

Only in August, the Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Theresia Degener, said the UK government had created a ‘human catastrophe’ for disabled people, where society viewed them as ‘parasites, living on social benefits… and [living on] the taxes of other people’.

The DWP’s own figures show that between December 2011 and February 2014 nearly 2,400 sick and disabled people died after being found fit for work. People in the final weeks of their lives are being put through gruelling assessments. And they’re suffering the stress of not knowing if, or when, their financial lifeline will be stripped away.

No poker face

Despite being entirely correct, Chakrabortty faced jeering from the audience and dark looks from his fellow panelists. He was then denounced as talking “inflammatory rubbish” by a Tory councillor in the audience.

But perhaps the most surprising reaction came from Labour MP Stella Creasy, who gave Chakrabortty a contemptuous shake of the head. And her reaction did not go unnoticed by viewers.

Creasy is a stellar advocate on women’s rights, but that advocacy has to stand when it clashes with austerity and disability, or it means nothing for swathes of women at the sharp end of both. And with John McDonnell’s promise to bring disabled people into government with a Labour win at the the next election, Creasy needs to get with the programme – fast.

Get Involved!

– Support Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) fighting for disabled people’s rights.

– Write to your MP, asking them to support the UN findings.

Featured image via YouTube screengrab

We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support

The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.

The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.

So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.

Support us

Comments are closed

Related articles