WASPI urges Labour ‘not to turn its back’ on women due State Pension age compensation

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign (WASPI) have written to shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, following her comments on compensation for 1950s-born women made during a press conference in Edinburgh earlier this week.

Speaking to journalists alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar at the head office of NatWest Group on Tuesday, Ms Reeves was asked about compensation promised to WASPI women under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party.

Ms Reeves said that she recognised the injustice, but added that no costing of compensation has been carried out yet.Daily Business reports that Ms Reeves said: “There are lots of things that a Labour government might like to do, but the state of the public finances and the dire need in our public services means that we won’t be able to do everything that we might like to do.” She continued: “Our manifesto will be published shortly, but I’ve said we won’t put forward anything that is not fully costed and fully-funded and I have not set out any money for this (State Pension age compensation).”The WASPI campaign said the shadow chancellor appeared to contradict Sir Keir Starmer who had previously said a Labour government would respond to the Ombudsman “at pace and reach a judgement”, leaving the door open to compensation but still not committing.WASPI says that around 3.6m women were plunged into poverty when the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to properly inform them the State Pension age was rising.In a letter to Ms Reeves, campaigners said: “Now, with Labour a stone’s throw from power…hundreds of thousands of WASPI women already feel badly let down, as it appears Labour is preparing to turn its backs on us at the eleventh hour.”WASPI is now urging