#046 Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI)
WASPI Women Taste Labour Betrayal & Hypocrisy
Another politically foolish decision made in the first year of the Labour government, made only months after the decision to means test winter fuel payments explored here - https://progressiveprimers.medium.com/means-testing-winter-fuel-payments-47c32a8e1331, was the government’s decision taken in early 2025 to not compensate any women affected financially by changes to the state pension age. This was despite many senior figures in the Labour government previously publicly endorsing the large, long fought campaign in years gone by.
Back in 2019 for instance, Angela Rayner MP, now Deputy Prime Minister, went as far as to claim an earlier (Conservative) government “stole money”, from the WASPI women, and “fundamentally undermined the contract between the state and its people”, calling it “completely unacceptable” and claimed Labour in power would “right that injustice”.
When it came down to it however, in early 2025, the Labour government was happy to disagree with and dismiss the conclusion of an independent Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report which recommended compensation, despite conceding government “maladministration”.
In doing so, after having making the promises they made in opposition, the Labour government has further eroded trust in Labour politicians and politicians generally, helping to further promote cynicism and anger across Britain at a time of economic instability. Just as the Lib Dems made promises to students in opposition on tuition fees, then u-turned and betrayed them in government, Labour have done a similar thing to elderly WASPI women, betraying them directly and denying them justice.
