Labour win an election landslide: what does it mean for disability sport?

In this emergency podcast, I react to Labour winning a landslide in the UK General Election. I consider what the new Labour government means for disability sport, specifically at the grassroots sport level.

Thanks for listening to the Disability Sport Info show!

Chapters

• 1:20 Introduction
• 1:20 Will the Get Active strategy survive?
• 3:29 How important is sport to Labour?
• 8:06 How important is disability to Labour?
• 12:14 Can Labour increase regular sport participation?
• 16:10 Conclusion

Transcript

Transcript for the episode, ‘Labour win a landslide. What does it mean for disability sport?’

Chris Brown: Hello, welcome to an emergency podcast for the Disability Support Info show. So I thought it'd be a good idea to do a special episode following the UK General Election that we've just had. So if you're not aware which would be interesting, unless you are not in this country, perhaps you have not been following very closely, but there has been a Labour landslide. So we've had 14 years of various different forms of the Conservatives in the government. First of all, a Coalition from 2010 to 2015, and then as a single party from 2015-2024. So what does this mean for disability sport? And so I just wanted to have a quick reaction and a quick focus on what this potentially could mean for disability sport, specifically at the grassroots level, moving forward. 

So I think the first big thing to reflect on is that there will probably be a change in strategy. So the current strategy is Get Active that was introduced last year. Now the headline figure overall was that 3.5 million more people were to be active by 20-30. It’s probably quite unrealistic to expect that figure and some of the criticisms, or at least certainly from my perspective, being potentially cynical, would be that, you know, there was recognition that it might have been quite difficult for the Conservatives to remain in power after the General Election. And so having a nice figure like 3.5 million, you know, gets good headlines, gets good soundbites. But they don't probably have to worry about delivering that particular figure. 

I recently hosted a live recording of the podcast. It was on the 17th of May at the University of Hertfordshire’s Festival of Ideas, and the panel were considering the Get Active strategy and its relevance for the disability sport. And the panellists, which were made of Laura Horton from Disability Rights UK, Doctor Emma Richardson from the University of Worcester, Professor Haley Fitzgerald from Leeds Beckett University, and Josef Baines from London Sport, we all concluded, effectively, that the Get Active strategy, in its current guise, was not going to be able to deliver the target that is set out to achieve for disability sport, namely that the Get Active strategy wants to get 700,000 more disabled people active by 2030. The panel did not think that was achievable in its current form and in its current machinations in terms of the Conservative government. 

So now we have a different government in charge. So does that mean we're going to stick to Get Active strategy or are we going to create a new strategy? I think the likelihood is there's going to be a new strategy. Always when governments come in, they want to put their new spin on things. Labour got a significant majority in the 170s in terms of their majority. So there's definitely space for Labour to be able to create a new framework.

Now, from my perspective, what I'm thinking is how big in terms of the priority list is sport going to be. Certainly for the grassroots perspective. There are so many other priorities that Labour are focusing on at the moment. And in terms of their manifesto, you can quite clearly see it's looking at getting the NHS waiting lists down, it's about getting more people into work, it's getting more teachers. It's trying to stop the boats, etcetera, etcetera. Sport doesn't really feature very heavily when you look at the manifesto: there isn't a huge amount on sport. It’s mainly about how we’ll be able to still deliver high class sporting events, etcetera, but not really much about sport. And there was a bit about football governance and putting that regulation, the bill into regulation, in terms of the Charter for Football, but very, very, very little detail about sport in the Labour manifesto. So it's not quite clear, in terms of what's actually going to happen, when it comes to sport, and specifically grassroots sport. 

Another fly in the ointment here, when we're considering what's going to happen for sport, is that the intended Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport did not get her seat. So it was a Thangam Debbonaire in Bristol Central, lost to Carla Denyer of the Greens. And so there has been a kind of a big focus, from just a bit of context, been a big focus from Sire Kier Starmer to try and have settled positions in terms of the government and the ministership, so those who have been doing the shadow versions of the current positions in government, in terms of Secretary of States and Minister petitions, we're probably going to be transferred over. Now, I'm recording at 10:45 in the morning on Friday, 5th of July, so, of course, the Cabinet has not been confirmed, but the likelihood is that many of the high-profile positions in terms of the shadow positions like Shadow Chancellor, Shadow Education Secretary, etcetera, are going to be filled, and are therefore going to be in the cabinet as those positions. So Rachel Reeves is probably going to be the Chancellor, and you're going to have Bridget Phillipson as the Education Secretary. Probably gonna have David Lammy as Foreign Secretary, etcetera, etcetera. When it comes to the shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, we don't have that situation because the supposed candidate, Thangam Debbonaire, did not make it. So who is going to be the new Secretary of State now? According to a BBC journalist, I'll just get the name. Just look at my phone whilst I do that. There are two names in the running. You've got Chris Bryant and you've got Ellie Reeves. So this was from Henry Zeffman of the BBC. He’s saying that those were the kind of names that he was hearing now. This was a few hours ago. So, of course, the situation could change. 

So I what I did is I looked on Hansard, which is a government website, essentially, where it reports all those kind of speeches and all the voting records and all the correspondence that ministers do, and for the last period of the Parliament I've searched using the keyword, sport, and I searched using the keyword, disability. I didn't find much for Ellie Reeves in terms of sport, very little in terms of disability for both of them. It was pretty generic. There wasn't anything specific that I could really take that was fairly substantive for Chris Bryant. He's done a lot of work around concussion and sport. So concussion in sport is a very big driving factor for Chris Bryant. So if he does become the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, I imagine that there's going to be a look at concussion and sport and kind of safe protocols for the elite and grassroots aspect. He seemed very passionate and championed that cause for a number of years. Also, it's important to note that during the 2010-15 period of Parliament, Chris Bryant was in, I think, a shadow position of Secretary of State for Culture and Media and Sport at that time, and also held a Minister position as well as a shadow Minister in that particular area. So he's got some links in that area. So, perhaps, Chris Bryant is likely to be the one who gets the position. Of course, recording it at 1047, I may look foolish having said that statement, but based on what the BBC correspondent, Henry Zeffman said, and also looking at the previous track record, perhaps he might be the fit for that particular position. 

So we don't know what the priorities are going to be. When also looking at the manifesto for Labour, in terms of disability specifics, so we've talked about sport, but in terms of disability specifically, again, there's not a huge amount about disability. Essentially, trying to get disabled people into work but that's the same for lots of different segments of society. But there is a section, I think on page 90 of the manifesto. Again, I just did a keyword search. I didn’t read every single page of the manifesto. But on the keyword search, what I found was that it says Labour is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and the principle of working with them so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all we do. That's a verbatim transcript there that I just quoted from. Interestingly, it says we will introduce the full right for equal pay for disabled people. So, Labour are committed in their manifesto that there should be a right to have equal pay for disabled people. So building on their gender focus in terms of pay, they want large companies and large employers to report on how there is a gap or if there is a gap for disability and ethnicity. So there seems to be a focus in terms of getting better rights for disabled people in terms of their employment and their work. And there's also a point in the manifesto that says that Labour will tackle the access to work backlog. And I think this is quite an interesting point. They want to make sure that people can try out a job without fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out. Now, the reason why I think that is interesting is because that links to something that in the research suggests can be a quite prominent theme is that some disabled people, if they are trying to be physically active or participate in sport, if they are reliant to a degree or a strong degree on benefits as part of their disposable income, then there has been a suggestion that some people are fearful of being active, because if they are seen to be active and then someone suggests that they are not eligible for the benefits because they're showing a certain proficiency in physical activity that they believe does not meet their level of impairment, they could potentially lose those benefits. 

And Activity Alliance, which in the UK, certainly in England, sorry, is kind of the main non-government body that focuses on inclusive sport and inclusive physical activity, and a fair representation of that. So, as part of their priorities, protecting the benefits is the number one. So it's not exactly a match in terms of Activity Alliance, who we're focusing on sport and benefits, but in the Labour manifesto there is that focus on perhaps, you know reducing that culture of reporting, or anyone who might be deemed to be a benefit cheat, and I put that in air quotes for those who are listening rather than watching the video. So that's interesting. That potentially could have some sort of synergy with the priorities of a company like Activity alliance and what's in the Labour manifesto. Also, just while we're on the Activity alliance. Two other areas that they were focusing on was equipping health and care workers. Sort of better integration between the health and care sector and sports physical activity. Again, there isn't much in the manifesto from Labour about what they will do for sport, but there is definitely a focus on trying to reduce waiting times for the NHS, to invest in the National Health Service and to support care. Liberal Democrats, as part of the opposition, will probably put a little bit of focus on the care sector and the care challenges that exist. But be interesting to see going forward, wherever that link between health and care sector and physical activity, and sport as a potential remedy or solution for some of the potential issues that some people might experience, will actually be utilised going forward. That's not clear. And the other priority  that Activity Alliance had was increasing accessible outdoor spaces. That I haven't seen huge amounts in the Labour manifesto about that, so we’ll have to wait and see whether that is actually going to happen. 

But let's get back to the Get Active strategy. And I said I'm pretty sure there will be a revised version of Get Active, if not a complete rip up of it. A, because I think it's unrealistic the targets that were in Get Active. And, B, like I said, new governments like to put a new spin on things, and you know, kind of putting their stamp on the work that they're doing. And so it's likely Get Active will probably not survive this term of the Parliament. The target is probably unrealistic. The 700,000 disabled people more active by 2030, so it would be interesting to see what target, if any, target is provided for more physical activity in sport. 

But there are a number of challenges. There are a number of challenges that are going to await this Labour government. So, during the campaign, if you are not from the UK context or even if you are from the UK context and we're not intrigued or enthralled by the very long campaign period, lots of talk has been about tax. Or the Conservative claims  about tax for Labour. Labour have been very clear about many different taxes that are not going to go up, but then equally at the same time the Institute of Fiscal Studies were saying that there are a number of cuts that are priced in, in terms of what public sector and services are going to experience based on the current projection for what the budgets have been agreed. And so without raising tax, or finding another way to raise money significantly, the choice essentially is either raised tax, invest in public services, or keep taxes as they are, but actually you can have a cut of public services. So if we're thinking about that as a priority or a challenge, how is that going to be resolved? And if there is not support for public services because of the tax agenda being kept as it is now, you know, as part of the pledges that were made, then that's going to be really tricky to try and support disabled people to be active and participate in sport. We know from the research that disabled people generally do use public sector services more than non-disabled people when it comes to sport and physical activity. So, if there are challenges to the services that are provided, that's going to hinder attempts to try and get more people active. 

Also another point to consider is that, you know, it's going to be very low on the priority list. Like I said earlier, there's a lot of work that Labour need to try and do and a lot of challenges for the country. So sport and physical activity will probably be quite low in terms of the priority going forward. And also if we're looking for local solutions to some of the physical activity and sport challenges that we experienced, a lot of local councils, a lot of local authorities have got significant financial constraints, too. So again, what's going to happen there? 

And I think a final point, just as a quick kind of reaction to the Labour landslide is that there needs to be a consultation with disabled people. Well, Laura, when we had our live event a few months ago now, she was referring to the fact that it kind of felt like the strategy was talking about disabilities as if there was no consultation process. There was no co-production and I think that's important. You know, there needs to be an understanding of how can we all work together to support the goal, the end target? 

And I think that one other final point is that targets are important, numbers are important, but also we need to consider the experiences of physical activity and sport. And this is something that Professor Fitzgerald talked about, are we able to offer a compelling opportunity to experience for so people to be active and to participate in sport. And, if so, you know that potentially might help with a more regular participation rather than just focusing on numbers. So lots to consider. 

First reaction recorded between 1045-1055, so who knows what the situation will be like when you're listening to this or watching to this or watching this video. But it's something to consider over an interesting period, different government in charge and yeah, something to consider and to watch. I'm really interested to get your thoughts. Do catch up on the previous episode where we had the live recording where we discussed the Get Active strategy in more detail. You can check out on the feeds in terms of the Disability Sport Info podcast.

I've gotta go now because my two young sons I think are having a bit of a tantrum. So if you can hear something in the background, here's them. Listening, listening to that potentially enhances your experience. Who knows? Thank you for listening and I will catch up with you soon. Thank you.