LABOUR MPs have confronted Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall over angry WhatsApp messages after she opted to not give Waspi women any compensation.
Several MPs hit out at Kendall in messages seen by The Times, with one warning the political cost of the “shameful” move would “outweigh the cost of compensation significantly”.
Another said "my integrity is worth more than this" in fury over the move.
Kendall announced on Tuesday the Labour UK Government would not be handing out any compensation to 3.6 million women born in the 1950s who were not made sufficiently aware of a 1995 decision to increase the state pension age from 60 to 65, which was accelerated under David Cameron in 2011.
The parliamentary ombudsman recommended earlier this year that those affected be paid up to £2950 each — at a cost of £10.5 billion.
In opposition, Starmer and other leading Labour figures backed the Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality] campaign but have been slated for turning their back on them in Government.
In WhatsApp messages, Labour MP Olivia Blake said: “I fear the political cost of this will outweigh the financial cost of compensation significantly.”
Meanwhile, Dawn Butler said she was in “shock” at the decision and questioned its timing.
“We would never have done this under Tony [Blair] or Gordon [Brown],” she said.
Exc: Labour MPs confront Liz Kendall over WASPI devision in leaked WhatsApp messages. They voice “shock”, suggest No 10 has failed to learn lessons from pensioners’ winter fuel cut, and seek legal advice the decision was based on. “My integrity is worth more than this,” says… pic.twitter.com/3HDLjJEeVo
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) December 19, 2024
“It’s Christmas recess, we would always focus on good news knowing it will be a quiet time for journalists.”
However, Butler encouraged her colleagues to “support” the Prime Minister, which riled up fellow MP Cat Eccles who said: “Support them when they have no respect for us to even give us some warning?
“Other parties knew the statement was coming before we did. Shameful.”
“When our member react like this, and solid Labour question backing the party, you have to wonder how did we get here?,” she said.
“I was elected under a banner of integrity. I stood shoulder to shoulder with these women and promised to fight for them as did many of us.
“My integrity is worth more than this.”
Julia Buckley said in response she struggled to understand the decision adding it was “very difficult to explain”.
One MP came to Kendall’s defence in the exchange. Helena Dollimore urged colleagues to focus their criticism more on the Conservatives.
“My anger is channelled at the Tories that left us this mess of an inheritance,” she said.
“And quite frankly, Jeremy Corbyn’s 2019 manifesto for raising the expectations of Waspi women in an unfunded promise that could never be delivered.”
Stella Creasy, meanwhile, questioned what legal advice had been given to the Government on the matter and laid out her concerns about the Government ignoring the ombudsman.
In an effort to soothe tensions with angry backbenchers, Kendall’s team gave MPs a template letter to send to constituents defending the decision. They argued that Labour campaigned against attempts to speed up the equalising of the state pension age for men and women by George Osborne, then the chancellor, in 2011.
“We fought for transitional arrangements for the women affected at the 2017 and 2019 General Elections. Unfortunately, we lost at both General Elections,” the letter said.
“The Government should have written to people informing them earlier — that would have been the right thing to do. While in some cases this may have made a difference, unfortunately the reality is that in most it wouldn’t.”
A blanket compensation scheme “simply wouldn’t be right” and a tailored one that was fair, value for money and feasible “would not be possible”, the letter added.
In Scotland, the move by UK Labour has not gone down well, with Scottish leader Anas Sarwar and depute leader Jackie Baillie both saying they felt the decision was wrong.
Posting that she was “very disappointed” on Twitter/X, Baillie shared a statement saying: “I want to be very clear that an injustice has been done to these women and, while the pension changes had an impact on all women, some will have suffered severe detriment as a result.
“Whilst I understand the financial constraints under which the UK Government finds itself operating, I think a blanket approach which denies compensation to any women is the wrong thing to do and I do not support this decision.”
