SCOTTISH Labour MP Michael Shanks was challenged by his own constituent live on the BBC on Wednesday as he defended the UK Government’s decision not to compensate Waspi women.
An ombudsman report earlier in the year had recommended giving each of the estimated 3.5 million women affected by reform to the state pension age compensation of between £1000 and £2950 due to a failure to properly communicate the changes.
On Tuesday, the Labour Government apologised for maladministration, but declined to give any compensation.
The decision sparked significant backlash – not least due to previous pledges from the very top of the party to compensate Waspi women.
Appearing on the BBC's Politics Live on Wednesday, Shanks repeatedly defended his party boss’s decision, saying that spending “more than £10 billion” on compensation was not a good use of public money.
However, he was challenged by Anne Potter, the coordinator for Waspi Glasgow who lives in his Rutherglen constituency.
The BBC showed images of both Shanks and Keir Starmer previously standing beside Potter and pledging to fight for justice and compensation for Waspi women.
Potter said: “It's absolutely shocking and unexpected. I'm absolutely disgusted with the whole situation, and it was really, really a slap in the face.”
Asked later if Labour’s decision had impacted her faith in politicians, the Waspi campaigner said: “I have to say I am so disappointed in this current Labour Party because they led us up the garden path.
"They gave us the information that, ‘oh yes, we're going to support you,’ they signed our pledges. They showed interest.
“And at the end of the day, when I heard that announcement yesterday, which came out of the blue, I was absolutely flabbergasted.”
Shanks said: “Of course I can understand that, and of course people are going to be frustrated when they think there's going to be one outcome and there is another.
“And of course, for a lot of Waspi women – and I do think there's a real spectrum here of how affected some women were by this – of course there'll be disappointment, and I recognise that, but we also have to balance that against what the best use of public money is, also recognising that this isn't about compensation for the equalisation of pension age.
“This is about what the ombudsman very clearly set out was the maladministration of not sending letters, and I don't think £10bn to compensate for that is the best use of public funds.”
