Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has urged Labour to reverse its decision not to compensate Waspi women, following a controversial announcement in Parliament.
The call comes after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall confirmed that women affected by changes to the state pension age will not receive any compensation.
Speaking to GB News, Davey said: “The ombudsman looked at this subject for five years and focused on the period back in the last Labour government when the DWP failed to notify women, and many of them just didn’t understand what was going on and weren’t aware of it.
“It’s the independent ombudsman that’s made these recommendations. I think the government needs to look at this, needs to change its mind, actually.
Ed Davey begged the government to u-turn on its decision
GB News
“I think people will be rather alarmed, and I’m afraid it tells a story about governments of all persuasions actually about how they respond to scandals.
“Whether it’s the Windrush scandal, the Horizon scandal, the contaminated blood scandal, and when eventually it’s clear that what happened what went wrong, governments drag their heels on compensating people who have clearly been wronged by the state, and I think if the state wrongs an individual, the state needs to put that right.”
Speaking during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he added: “It’s bad news on inflation rising today, but the Conservatives really caused much of this mess.
“You’re asking about how to pay for it, we put forward ideas which wouldn’t raise taxes on individuals. You can also look at precedents.
“When there’s been these one-off compensation payments, they’ve often been paid by a one-off increase in borrowing, but that hasn’t led to long term increases in borrowing which would be economically worrying.
“So, we can do this. There’s political will to do it. And I’m just disappointed that after five years of an independent ombudsman, the Waspi women aren’t getting the justice they’ve campaigned for.”
Campaigners are calling on policymakers to do more for women born in the 1950s WASPI
The decision affects an estimated 3.6 million women born in the 1950s who had to wait up to six years longer than expected for their state pension.
Kendall told the Commons that paying a flat rate compensation to all affected women, which could cost up to £10.5billion, “would not be fair or proportionate to taxpayers”.
She argued that “the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing”.
The Labour minister dismissed the proposed compensation scheme that would have provided between £1,000 and £2,950 per person at a total cost of between £3.5billion and £10.5billion.
The WASPI campaign wants payouts of £10,000 or moreGETTY
A report in March recommended compensation payments between £1,000 and £2,950 for each affected woman, after finding they lost opportunities to adjust their retirement plans.
The Waspi campaign has highlighted the human cost of the delay, with reports that one Waspi woman dies every 13 minutes.
Campaign groups say the average victim missed out on over £50,000 in pension payments.
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