Lee Anderson has delivered a scathing rebuke to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as he shared a clip of her backing compensation for WASPI campaigners eight years in the past – in sharp distinction to the stance of the present Labour administration.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has not too long ago opted towards offering monetary compensation to the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaigners.
These ladies, born within the Nineteen Fifties, had been affected by legislative adjustments that elevated the state pension age from 60 to 65, as outlined within the Pensions Act 1995 and accelerated by the Pensions Act 2011.
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman had beforehand advisable compensation between £1,000 and £2,950 per particular person, citing insufficient Department for Work and Pensions communication about these adjustments.
However, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall acknowledged that the majority ladies had been conscious of the adjustments and didn’t endure direct monetary loss, making compensation unaffordable for taxpayers.
Mr Anderson shared the clip, shot in 2017, which reveals Ms Cooper surrounded by campaigners.
In it, the MP for Pontefract, Castleford, and Knottingley says: “I’m here with the Five Towns and Yorkshire WASPI women.
“They’ve been running a great campaign on behalf of women right across this area, and across the country as well.
“They’ve been treated so badly by this Tory government – they’ve had their pension age increased with no proper warning.
“It’s moving the goalposts when people can’t plan – it’s completely unfair.
“I’m joining them, fighting to try and get this changed – I think it’s completely unfair. I’m going to keep fighting for a fair deal for the WASPI women.”
Ms Cooper’s phrases are then cheered by others within the video – however WASPI chairwoman Angela Madden has since responded in a press release issued on December 19 through which she criticised what she referred to as Labour’s “bizarre and totally unjustified move which will leave everyone asking what the point of an ombudsman is if ministers can simply ignore their decisions”.
Mr Anderson, Reform UK MP for Ashfield, posting on X, stated: “She said this. With a straight face.”
Other senior Labour figures have additionally made remarks that seem to contradict the celebration’s present place.
In 2019, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner criticised the Conservative authorities’s dealing with of the problem, asserting that the affected ladies’s pensions had been “stolen” and that Labour would compensate them. During the final election marketing campaign that yr, Labour, then led by Jeremy Corbyn, pledged £58 billion to deal with WASPI scenario.
The WASPI marketing campaign continues to advocate for honest remedy, emphasising the monetary hardships many face because of the pension age adjustments. Opposition events have additionally criticised the federal government’s place, with the Liberal Democrats describing it as a “day of shame.”
Reform UK has voiced support but has not committed to providing financial compensation, with Reform’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice, the MP for Boston and Skegness, on record as saying: “We have not acquired £10bn to only fling round.”
Nevertheless, many disillusioned WASPI women are turning to the party led by Nigel Farage.
A recent survey of nearly 11,000 affected women indicates a significant increase in support for Reform UK, rising to 24%, while support for Labour has dwindled to 7%.
Express.co.uk has contacted Ms Cooper via her parliamentary workplace and the DWP for feedback.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1993316/lee-anderson-yvette-cooper-waspi-women-compensation