Badenoch says term 'disabled' is at risk of losing all meaning

Kemi Badenoch said yesterday she did not believe that one in four people were disabled and the term was in danger of losing its meaning, as she used a speech to criticise the size of the welfare state.

- Rowena Mason Jessica Elgot

The Conservative leader called for restrictions on disability benefits for those with conditions including food intolerances, anxiety and mild depression.

She made the speech at the Centre for Social Justice a week after Keir Starmer's government scaled back the extent of its cuts to disability benefits in the face of a huge revolt from backbench Labour MPs and disability rights groups.

Badenoch said the cuts did not go far enough; the Conservatives tabled proposals to stop sickness benefits going to foreign nationals. "We now live in a country where one in four people self-report as disabled, and people are receiving disability benefits for having tennis elbow. I know some may disagree with me, but I do not believe that one in four of us can be considered disabled without the term losing all meaning," she said.