A cabinet minister admitted yesterday her aunt is a Waspi woman who is angry at Labour’s refusal to pay compensation.
Lucy Powell, Leader of the Commons, said her relative is ‘not happy at all’ after the Prime Minister abandoned a vow to recompense millions of women hit by pension age changes.
Labour has faced a backlash from campaigners and its own MPs after announcing last week that taxpayers could not afford the £10.5billion compensation package.
An ombudsman had recommended the Government pay compensation to women who were told they would have to work five years longer to receive their state pension.
Ms Powell, who had previously championed calls for compensation, said: ‘I understand people’s concern, absolutely – and my aunty is a Waspi woman; I get it very strongly. She’s not happy at all, I can tell you that.’
During an interview on BBC Breakfast, she was shown a clip from 2019 where she argued that giving the Waspi women compensation would ‘restore an injustice’. But now Ms Powell insisted it was not ‘appropriate or proportionate’ to spend billions on compensation.
In 2022 Sir Keir Starmer also signed a pledge calling for the women to receive ‘fair and fast’ compensation, and last year he said they had faced a ‘huge injustice’.
While in Opposition, other senior members of the Government, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, also backed the fight by Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaigners.
In March, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recommended that compensation should be paid to women born in the 1950s whose state pension age was raised to be equal with men.
It said the women should be given up to £2,950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5 billion, as poor communication over the changes meant they had lost the chance to plan their retirement finances.
On Tuesday, this recommendation was rejected by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall although the Government has apologised for a 28-month delay in writing to the women.
Yesterday Ms Powell said that she ‘can’t see’ ministers revisiting the issue.
‘Of course I recognise that over many years, for these women, they do feel that they’ve been hard done by.’
But she added: ‘For women at this pension age, the triple-lock is now really boosting the value of [their] pension.’
Asked if voters were frustrated at Labour for breaking its promise, she said the pledge was in the party’s 2019 manifesto but not in this year’s election campaign.
The Liberal Democrats have suggested they could use one of their upcoming Opposition day debates to force a Commons vote on the issue. Deputy leader Daisy Cooper called for a rethink and said: ‘We’re very angry about it.’
A vote could smoke out how many Labour MPs are unhappy with the decision.