Scottish Parliament accused of treating disabled people as an 'afterthought' as Bill withdrawn
Former Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour withdrew a Bill he said would have made a ‘positive difference to the lives of disabled people’
The Scottish Parliament is treating disabled people as an “afterthought”, an Edinburgh-based MSP has claimed.
Jeremy Balfour has withdrawn his Bill to create a dedicated disability commissioner in Scotland “with a heavy heart” after MSPs voted to not have any new commissioners appointed.
The Bill aimed to establish a disability commissioner who would safeguard the rights of disabled people. This purpose included reviewing legislation and investigating issues raised by the disabled community.
Mr Balfour said the Bill would have made a “positive difference to the lives of disabled people in Scotland”. The legislation had been at stage one in the Scottish Parliament and had been scrutinised by a Holyrood committee for almost a year.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr Balfour said: “A couple of weeks ago, the Scottish Parliament voted that they would have no new appointments of commissioners, which meant this Bill was never going to be able to become law.
“The disabled community was very disappointed by this decision. I thought about it and it didn’t seem right to go ahead with this Bill and raise expectations by taking it any further, so I withdrew the Bill with a really heavy heart.
“The decision is one the disabled community will find difficult to accept.”
Mr Balfour, who left the Scottish Conservatives over the summer and now sits as an independent MSP, said he would keep the pressure on MSPs. He plans to reintroduce this Bill “immediately” if he is re-elected in May 2026.
“I think disabled people are always left behind, but they have been left behind even further after Covid,” he said. “A commissioner wouldn’t have solved every issue, but it would have given the disabled community a much stronger voice.
“Disabled people are still an afterthought to many politicians. This is not just a question for the government, it is for all political parties here in Parliament - why did they vote for a victims of crime commissioner the day before voting to get rid of any new commissioners? Why is that a priority and disabled people are not?”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “It is a scandal that disabled people are failed by a broken status quo.
“The SNP has hollowed out public services, pushed our health and social care to crisis point and inflicted brutal cuts to ASN provision in schools.
“While the structure of Scotland’s commissioner landscape is subject to debate, the need to improve the lives of disabled people is not.
“Scottish Labour will continue to work to build a country that protects the rights of every Scot.”
The SNP, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Lib Dems and Scottish Greens have also been approached for comment.
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