Comparing disabled children to lambs that are 'runts' that get 'smashed against the wall to kill them'
By Mark Duell -
Councillor Collin Brewer who said disabled children should be ‘put down’ sparked further controversy today by comparing them to deformed lambs who need to be culled.
Cornwall Council veteran member Collin Brewer said children with disabilities should only be allowed to live after the cost has been evaluated - much like farmers who kill the runt of the litter.
Independent Mr Brewer stood down earlier this year after he claimed disabled children could be put to death to save taxpayers’ money.
He now faces fresh calls to permanently step down after making more outrageous comments, saying ‘there may be a case’ for treating disabled children like deformed livestock.
He told the Disability News Service that runt lambs are often put down by farmers who deal with them by ‘smashing them against a wall’.
He said: ‘If they [farmers] have a misshapen lamb, they get rid of it. They get rid of it. Bang.’
Mr Brewer said he discussed his previous statements about putting disabled children down with a farmer from his Wadebridge East constituency. He claimed the farmer made it clear he ‘didn’t see a lot wrong with what I said, because it is something they do every day’.
He added: ‘We are just animals. He obviously has got a point - you can’t have lambs running around with five legs and two heads. It would be put down, smashed against the wall and be dealt with.'
When asked if he believed there was not much difference between putting down a lamb and a child with two heads, he said: ‘I think the cost has got to be evaluated.
'It is not something I would like to do but there is only so much in the bucket. If you are talking about giving services to the community or services to the individual, the balance has got to be struck.’
Asked if he believed it might be kinder to kill a child with two heads, he said: ‘Is that one child or two?
‘I would hope that, although I don’t like the idea of it, long before it is born that this problem is [dealt with] and it will probably be aborted in some way.’
And when questioned if a child with a similar impairment should be killed after birth, he said: ‘That would be up to the decision of whoever is there at the birth.
Asked whether there was a good argument for killing some disabled children with high support needs to save money, he said: ‘Yes. That is why I keep as far away from health in the council as I can.
'There may be a case. I haven’t a clue how much they cost.’
A spokesman for Disability Cornwall said: ‘It’s particularly frightening these views may be held by those who have the positions and power to make life and death decisions.
‘It’s a sad indictment of our so-called civilised society that disabled children are increasingly discussed within the context of affordability, as if they are goods on a shelf that can be picked up and discarded at will.
You may believe he is right in his opinion. You may feel he has a point.
From my belief that everyone has a right to life, and no-one has the right to take that from them, you can see why I find his continued comments disgusting.
