MPs are set to debate ‘support for women in poverty’ on Thursday afternoon following an application from DUP MP Jim Shannon to the Backbench Business Committee. The cross-party Committee of eight MPs includes SNP MP Patricia Gibson and Labour’s Kate Osborne.
Both MPs have recently urged the UK Government to put forward an "urgent" compensation package for an estimated 3.8million women born in the 1950s who have been affected by changes to the State Pension age. Mr Shannon is also a vocal supporter of the WASPI campaign [Women Against State Pension Inequality].
On making his application, Mr Shannon, said: “Poverty has affected many people in the United Kingdom, but women in particular have been affected in a very difficult way. Figures indicate that 22 per cent have a persistent low income, denying women the opportunity to build up savings and assets to fall back on in times of hardship.”
