Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP Angus MacNeil says the UK Government must do the right thing for WASPI women and pay compensation following a damning report published this week.
Commenting Mr MacNeil said:
“I have strongly supported the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign for several years in their efforts to secure fairness for women affected by the acceleration in the retirement age – which impacts up to 1900 women in Na h-Eileanan an Iar alone.
“The UK Government mut take responsibility, deliver the pension that women born in the 1950s deserve and end this inequality.
“The report published this week by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) said those affected should be compensated.
“But the recommended payouts of between £1,000 and £2,950 a person fall far short of the £10,000-plus that campaigners were calling for.
“Due to the UK Government’s shambolic handling of the process these women have not been given reasonable time to prepare for retirement.
“This is a gross injustice.
“Pensions are not a privilege; they are a contract, and the UK Government has broken that contract.
“So far Labour and Tories who both bare a responsibly for this situation in its creation and it’s sorting have been silent
“Pensions are fully reserved to Westminster and the Scotland Act 2016 explicitly prevents the Scottish Parliament from creating new pension benefits.
“Neither can the power to top-up benefits be used because WASPI women are not yet in receipt of a pension.
“Independence would give Scotland the power and finances we see in normal independent nations to decide its own pension rules.”
