Labour is engulfed in a cross-border war over Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘betrayal’ of women hit by surprise state pension age rises.
Scottish leader Anas Sarwar said the UK Government’s refusal to pay anything to 3.8 million ‘Waspi’ women was ‘wrong’ and that a compromise on money was possible.
In a scathing attack, he called the decision ‘deeply disappointing’ and revealed he personally told the Prime Minister and Work and Pensions Secretary how unhappy he was.
Mr Sarwar said: ‘A blanket no compensation position is the wrong one, and I am deeply disappointed about that.
‘We could have looked at incremental payments, tapered payments, targeted support to those on the lowest incomes. That would have been a fairer way forward.
‘Keir Starmer and Liz Kendall are in no doubt about what my view is and the scale of my disappointment.
Speaking to STV News, Mr Sarwar added: ‘I was one of the ones that campaigned with them, had photographs with them, I was right to do that, I was right to campaign with them.
‘I continue to stand with them in the face of their injustice.’
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar continues to stand with women born in the 1950s
It is understood Mr Sarwar spoke to Sir Keir and Ms Kendall in London on Tuesday.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, a former convener of Holyrood’s cross-party group on Waspi women, added: ‘I’m clear that an injustice has been done to these women.
‘A blanket approach which denies compensation to any women is wrong. It is my belief that a compromise could have been reached to assist those who have suffered the most.’
The Dumbarton MSP said she intended to keep supporting the Waspi women’s battle.
The public rift emerged as Sir Keir faced a Commons mutiny after U-turning on a vow to compensate women told to work five years longer than they expected for a state pension.
The PM yesterday insisted 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 accusing the Government of betraying the Waspi women.
‘Promising one thing in Opposition and doing the opposite in Government is a betrayal,’ she tweeted, after she joined rebel MPs in criticising the decision at Prime Minister’s Questions.
And Independent, formerly Labour, MP Ian Byrne told the chamber the Waspi women had experienced an ‘injustice done to them at the hands of the state’.
Women protested outside the Scottish Parliament as they campaigned for compensation
Sir Keir said 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’.
The Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign has been fighting for women born in the 1950s who were not properly informed about their state pension age being raised from 60 to 65 to equalise it with men.
Under a 1995 plan, the change was supposed to be phased in between 2010 and 2020.
But between 2005 and 2007 the Department of Work and Pensions failed to issue sufficient warnings to those affected for 28 months, and many arranged to retire at 60.
In March, a parliamentary ombudsman found the delay was Government ‘maladministration’ and recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for women caught by the changes - the Waspi campaign demanded at least £10,000 each.
On Tuesday, Ms Kendall accepted the maladministration finding and apologised for the delay, but despite campaigning for Waspi women, she refused to pay out any compensation.
She said most women knew of the change, there was no evidence of ‘direct financial loss’, and the cost would not be ‘value for taxpayers’ money’.
The decision was particularly awkward for Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, who campaigned alongside Waspi women for years to demand ‘justice’ over the ‘unfair pension changes’.
In 2019, he even urged women to complain to the Ombudsman about their case.
In a now deleted page on his website, the Edinburgh South MP boasted: ‘We sent hundreds and hundreds of cases to them’, adding the Government should pay ‘serious compensation’.
Mr Sarwar, who also backed the Waspi women, is already at odds with Sir Keir over Labour slashing the winter fuel payment for pensioners and failing to end the two-child benefit cap.
The Glasgow MSP said: ‘Just taking a blanket position and no compensation I think is deeply disappointing.
‘I was right to campaign with [Waspi women]. I continue to stand with them in the face of their injustice and asking for a fair settlement as a result.
‘Where they have justified frustration is in a blanket no compensation position.
‘I think we’ve got into technical arguments around the Ombudsman report and what happened in the DWP, rather than the substantive issue - that it was an injustice.
‘A formal apology is important. But there is a role around compensation.’
Greater Glasgow Waspi co-ordinator Anne Potter told the BBC that before the general election Labour MPs showed great support, including Sir Keir who signed a demand for ‘fair and fast compensation for Waspi women’ at the Scottish Labour conference.
She said: ‘We feel as if we’ve been betrayed by this UK government. As it stands just now, people are beginning to wonder why on earth the Labour government was ever voted in.’
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said on X: ‘Looks like Scottish Labour have blown their chances of winning in 2026, after betraying pensioners, farmers, businesses, and many more.’
Angus and Perthshire Glens SNP MP Dave Doogan called Sir Keir a ‘one-trick phoney’ with a growing list of broken promises to his name.