Labour was in mutiny last night over Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘betrayal’ of women born in the 1950s hit by state pension age changes.
MPs lined up to attack the Government for abandoning a vow to compensate the 3.8 million ‘Waspi’ women who were told they would have to work five years longer before receiving a pension.
The Prime Minister insisted yesterday taxpayers could not afford the £10.5 billion compensation package and declined calls for a vote on the decision.
He came under fire from his own backbenches – with veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott tweeting: ‘Promising one thing in opposition and doing the opposite in Government is a betrayal.’
She had earlier joined rebel MPs in criticising the decision at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling the Commons: ‘We did promise them that we will give them justice.
I understand the issue about the cost, but does the Prime Minister really understand how let down Waspi women feel today?’
Independent, formerly Labour, MP Ian Byrne told the chamber the women had experienced an ‘injustice at the hands of the state’.
And he asked: ‘Will the Prime Minister give members the opportunity to vote on whether they believe Waspi women are owed compensation?’
Sir Keir replied: ‘The simple fact of the matter is, in the current economic circumstances, the taxpayer can’t bear the burden of tens of billions of pounds in compensation.’
Keir Starmer (pictured during PMQs today) insisted that taxpayers could not afford the £10.5 billion compensation package
WASPI campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament
WASPI campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament
Chancellor Rachel Reeves proudly posed for photographs in 2020 alongside Waspi campaigners
But Labour MP Rachael Maskell, a member of the all-party parliamentary group on state pension inequality for women, told the Mail: ‘Waspi women put their trust in Labour, believing that they would receive justice after a long battle.’
Fellow Labour member Mary Foy said she was ‘devastated’ by the Government’s position.
The PM described yesterday delays in communicating changes to the state pension age for women born in the 1950s as ‘unacceptable’ and criticised George Osborne’s move to accelerate the programme when he was chancellor.
But the Prime Minister refused to agree to compensation, blaming ‘the state of our economy’.
He added: ‘It is a serious issue. It is a complex issue. The research shows 90 per cent of those impacted knew about the changes that were taking place.’
But the Waspi – Women Against State Pension Inequality – criticised this claim. Angela Madden, chair of the group, said: ‘This isn’t just misleading, it’s an insult.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has also previously shown her support for the campaign having posed with two WASPI women in 2019
Liz Kendall, who on Tuesday rejected the The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) watchdogs recommendation to compensate the WASPI women, poses with campaigners in 2019
‘The Ombudsman’s findings were based on rigorous evidence showing that 60 per cent of women had no idea their own state pension age was rising.’
Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are among senior ministers who backed the Waspi group when Labour in opposition.
Ms Reeves said yesterday she had to ‘account for every penny of taxpayers’ money spent’ and judged compensation would not be fair.
Yet in 2020 she appeared in a photograph holding a placard pledging to work with them towards a ‘fair solution’.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recommended in March the Government pay compensation to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised to be equal with men.
The watchdog said the women should be paid up to £2,950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5 billion.