MPs at Westminster have voted to support handing compensation to Waspi women following a debate in the Commons.
The SNP forced a vote on a bill presented by group leader Stephen Flynn on Tuesday which would require the Labour Government to compensate 1950s-born women who lost out amid changes to the state pension age.
Last March, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) recommended compensation of £1000 to £2950 per person after historic failures in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) meant pension age changes were not properly communicated.
Despite this, the Labour UK Government announced before Christmas it would not be offering any compensation, a move the ombudsman has subsequently described as “extremely unusual” given there is a 99.9% compliance rate for its recommendations.
Following a debate on Tuesday, MPs voted by 105 votes to 0 for the UK Government to issue compensation.
It means the bill has cleared its first Commons hurdle, but the vote will be viewed as a symbolic show of support for the compensation proposal as private members’ bills introduced by MPs face a battle to become law if they do not receive Government support and fail to secure parliamentary time to clear the necessary stages.
Flynn’s bill would require ministers to publish measures to address the findings of the PHSO report.
Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman – who urged his colleagues to back the bill – will form part of the team taking the bill forward.
The division list showed 10 Labour MPs offer their support to the proposed law to establish a compensation scheme. Leishman was listed as the only Labour MP from Scotland to offer his backing to the bill.
The others were listed as: Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool), Julia Buckley (Shrewsbury), Neil Duncan-Jordan (Poole), Chris Hinchliff (North East Hertfordshire), Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk), Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields), Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes), Jon Trickett (Normanton and Hemsworth) and Steve Witherden (Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr).
The overwhelming majority of Labour MPs chose not to back the bill and instead abstained.
It comes after MSPs voted unanimously last week to call on the UK Government to issue compensation to Waspi women.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has previously said he felt the UK Government's decision to not issue compensation was "wrong".
Waspi chair Angela Madden said: “The House of Commons has just voted to compensate Waspi women, ordering ministers to revisit their decision not to draw up a financial redress scheme. “Labour whips ran scared of a major rebellion and ordered their MPs to abstain. However, multiple Labour MPs defied their orders today and voted in favour of compensation. Many more are supportive in principle and not a single MP was prepared to back the Government’s line of ‘no compensation’.
"The Government must now urgently schedule a debate and a proper vote, in Government time, so all Members can have their say.”
Green MSP Maggie Chapman criticised Labour and Tory MPs for failing to turn up and vote.
“The fact that Labour and the Tories even failed to turn up and vote shows exactly what is wrong with Westminster's ruling elite. We need radical change to put people and planet first: the same old and tired rhetoric from Starmer won’t cut it," she said.
“It’s clear that the consensus in Holyrood and Westminster is clear; Labour must pay up for the mistreatment of the Waspi women.”
