OPPOSITION leaders across Westminster have joined forces to demand that the Labour Government stick to their promise to compensate women affected by State Pension age changes.
Seven parties have formed the coalition and have written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall calling for Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) compensation to be paid urgently.
Senior figures including the SNP’s Stephen Flynn, Green co-leader Carla Denyer, and LibDem Ed Davey have all backed Waspi women’s calls for fair and fast compensation and have demanded a response from ministers before Christmas.
More than three and a half million women born in the 1950s were impacted after the UK Government failed to properly inform them of substantial increases to their State Pension age.
Campaigners have said the worst affected women experienced increases of up to six years, while tens of thousands were plunged into poverty.
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Flynn said the Waspi woman deserve “much better” from the UK Government and they have been “betrayed all over again” by Labour.
“The Tory government let Waspi campaigners down for years and whilst in opposition, Labour politicians backed the Waspi campaign with promise after promise of delivering justice – many held the genuine belief that a new Labour government would finally mean change – instead those women have been betrayed all over again by Labour,” he said.
“Waspi women deserve so much better – they deserve fair and fast compensation. The SNP will keep to our principled position and concrete commitment in support of the Waspi women and we will continue to hold Westminster governments to account until these women get the justice they deserve.”
The cross-party letter was sent to ministers on Thursday morning and cites that more than 25,000 women affected by the pension scandal have died since the landmark report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was published in March 2024.
The UK Government has yet to respond to the report by the watchdog which ordered ministers to compensate and apologise to those affected more than eight months ago.
The letter follows a parliamentary petition calling for a Waspi compensation scheme that gained more than 125,000 signatures within days, leading to a debate in Parliament.
Carla Denyer (below) MP, co-leader of the Green Party, said the Tories had “kicked the can down the road” and that the Labour Government must act urgently to set out compensation plans.
She said: “The Greens stand firmly behind the millions of 1950s-born women who have suffered injustice and must be urgently compensated.
“The previous government kicked the can down the road, and now the Labour Party must act. With tens of thousands of pensioners struggling to make ends meet, ministers must urgently set out their plans to compensate those affected.”
Hundreds of MPs have confirmed their support for fair and fast compensation since the general election.
It is also believed that dozens of Labour MPs have lobbied government ministers privately in recent weeks around setting out compensation plans.
Angela Madden, chair of Waspi, has urged the UK Government to do the right thing and has questioned why the women who have been affected have been left waiting for so long.
She said: “Waspi’s calls for fair and fast compensation are backed by overwhelming numbers of people across the country, and a clear majority of MPs across party lines.
“The Government has shown it can do the right thing by compensating victims of the infected blood and Post Office scandals; however, many will also be asking why WASPI women have been left waiting.
“Today’s action shows that it does not matter who is in government – justice must be delivered and Waspi women are not going away.”
