Access to Elected Office is a £2.6m fund to support disabled people enter politics both on a local and national level. The fund is due to close in May 2015 and there are no plans to replace it. This is unacceptable.
 
There are over 11 million people in the UK with disabilities. Proportional representation in politics is essential so that disabled people’s needs are effectively understood and met. At the moment there are only a handful of disabled parliamentary candidates, without this fund there will be even fewer in the future as disability related costs associated with running for office will lock out all the but the wealthy from what is supposed to be a democratic system.