The SNP has called for a vote on the Labour Government decision to betray WASPI women and reject an Ombudsman compensation recommendation.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP Westminster Leader, has written to leaders of other opposition parties to seek their support for a vote when the parliament returns in January.
In his letter to Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey, Mr Flynn pressed both to use their Opposition Day allocations to force a vote.Â
It comes as the Labour Government faced a fierce backlash from campaigners after u-turning on a commitment to compensate the 3.6 million women impacted by the DWP’s failure to adequately inform them of state pension age changes.
In March, the Ombudsman’s report found that “some women lost opportunities to make informed decisions about their finances” and recommended that compensation be paid out.
In opposition, virtually every single senior Labour politician from Sir Keir Starmer to Liz Kendall committed to WASPI justice while Scottish Labour figures including Anas Sarwar and Ian Murray were also unequivocal in their support.
Yesterday, Mr Flynn was the first MP to demand a vote on the matter in a scathing question to Labour’s Liz Kendall as she detailed plans to betray WASPI campaigners.
Commenting on his bid for a House of Commons vote to see compensation paid out, Mr Flynn said:
“WASPI women have been betrayed by the Labour Party, but the fight doesn’t end here – Sir Keir Starmer must follow the compensation recommendation of the independent Ombudsman and the SNP will try to force a vote to make that happen.
“In that respect, I’ve written to other party leaders to ask them to help by using their Parliamentary time to debate and vote on justice for the WASPI women.
“It’s a complete disgrace that Labour Party politicians posed with WASPI women before the election only to leave them high and dry when they got into government – it’s the very worst of politics.
“Not content with robbing pensioners of their Winter Fuel Payment or maintaining the two-child cap, the Labour Government has now shamefully betrayed WASPI women – the same Labour Party who laughably told us that they wanted to restore trust in politics.
“The SNP has been unwavering in our support for the women impacted and we are not prepared to give up the fight now – I call on other party leaders in Westminster to join me in those efforts by forcing the Labour Party into the voting lobbies.”
