Lee Anderson makes a fool of himself again, this time about disability

Reform Party joke Lee Anderson is showing once again how little he actually knows. Fresh from campaigning in the wrong place, 30p decided to try attacking disabled people.

30p Lee Anderson talking out of his arse again

Except he, of course, hasn’t got a fucking clue what he’s talking about. During the weekly Department of Work and Pensions oral questions, he asked:

Could one of the Ministers please explain to me and the people of Ashfield why the UK has one of the highest rates of disability in Europe?

This warranted a slightly baffled response from the minister for disabled people, Stephen Timms

I am not sure which figures the honourable Gentleman is drawing attention to.

That’s because, as usual, Anderson was talking utter fucking waffle.

UK doesn’t have highest rate of disabled people

In the UK, roughly 25% of people self-identify as disabled. It’s thought the figure could actually be higher, as this is taken from census data and not everyone will be happy calling themselves disabled. The last census was also in 2021.

This might seem high, but there are many countries that have higher rates of disability.

According to Eurostat, Latvia has the highest rate, with 41.2% of its citizens being disabled. This is followed by Finland at 34.3%, then Slovakia with 33.3%. In fact, the UK isn’t even one of the top ten European countries with the highest rate of disabled citizens.

We’re not in this chart because thanks to arseholes like Anderson, we’re no longer in the EU. But at a rough estimate, we’re about 14th.

Maybe he meant benefits? Still wrong though

Anderson could’ve perhaps been talking about the countries with the highest rates of disability benefits. We must point out here, the most ‘reliable’ source for this according to Google is a mobility furniture shop’s blog. But let’s be honest, there’s no way Anderson did more than a quick Google browse here, if that.

According to Oak Tree Mobility, the UK has the 6th highest disability benefits. If you actually look at it this is due to the extra things disabled people are entitled to. However those other things are attached to Universal Credit, our main disability benefit PIP. It’s done what Reform also loves to do and conflate the two.

And let’s not forget that not all disabled people are on benefits. Only 33% of disabled people in the UK get PIP.

Regardless of this, far more countries have higher benefits. Our rates are nowhere near the likes of Switzerland. Swiss disabled people get around £7,149.55 in benefits each month. This also completely disproves the rhetoric from many politicians that our “generous” benefits system incentivises claimants. Despite this stonking amount, just 14.6% of disabled people in the country are on benefits.

Trusting AI instead of his limited brain power?

Best guess is that Lee has Googled something like “amount of disability by country in Europe”. When I did the same, Google’s AI gave me the wonky overview:

Disability Assessment and Social Protection – European …Approximately 21.7% of the UK population lives with a disability, the highest in Europe, with over 14.6 million people affected, yet with a relatively low average monthly allowance of £679.90.

You literally just have to continue reading the ‘overview’ to get the truth, though:

Latvia (41.2%), Finland (34.9%), and Slovakia (33.3%) report the highest shares of citizens with disabilities. Overall, roughly 20% of the EU population (16+) reports some form of limitation.

Lee Anderson doesn’t care if it’s true

Let’s be honest, Anderson doesn’t give a fuck if the UK does have the highest rates of disability or benefits in Europe. What matters to all right-wing politicians is that the public believes it. They’re going to keep feeding the narrative that disabled people are all faking it to sit on their arses all day and laugh at hardworking taxpayers.

Because that way the public ignores that fact that politicians and the millionaires who fund them sit on their arses laughing at taxpayers all day

Featured image via the Canary