The SNP and LibDems are expected to force a Commons vote in the new year on compensation for Waspi women, reports say.
Keir Starmer is being warned he could face his biggest rebellion yet from Labour MPs after the UK Government decided not to hand compensation to women born in the 1950s affected by the rise to the state pension age.
The move went against a recommendation from the parliamentary ombudsman in March, which suggested £1000 to £2950 should be paid out to each of the more than three million women affected.
The Prime Minister denied MPs a vote on the issue and told the Commons that taxpayers could not afford the £10.5 billion compensation package.
It has been reported up to 100 Labour MPs are furious about the Government’s decision and some exchanged messages on WhatsApp venting their anger about the pre-Christmas announcement by Liz Kendall.
Though it is not yet known what mechanism will be used, it is understood the SNP and LibDems plan to force a vote on the issue which could seriously damage the Prime Minister’s reputation.
The LibDems’ deputy leader Daisy Cooper (below) told the i Paper the party is open to using one of its upcoming opposition day debates.
She added: “We’re very angry about it and we do think the Government needs to think again.”
Brian Leishman, the newly-elected Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, said: “I will vote against the Government if it comes to it. It’s a moral case. It’s a historical injustice.”
Leishman vowed to vote for Waspi compensation regardless of punishment from the whips. He encouraged others to “leave the leadership in no doubt that this is not right”, before adding: “I don’t think anyone should be getting suspended.”
Seven Labour MPs on the left of the party were suspended in July after voting against the Government on the failure to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
In September, a further group of 12 Labour backbenchers who abstained during a vote over the removal of universal Winter Fuel Payments received a stern letter from the whips warning them not to do so again.
Several Labour MPs told the i Paper that “dozens” could now rebel on the Waspi issue, even if they were threatened with having the whip removed.
The Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality] group had called for £10,000 each for the 1950s-born women who expected to get their state pension at 60 but had to wait another five or six years.
John McTernan, Tony Blair’s former political secretary, said Starmer had set a “high bar” for dealing with rebellion when he suspended seven MPs after the benefit cap vote.
“They will have to threaten the same, and deliver on that threat,” the No 10 veteran said on the Waspi row.
Though a vote may be forced, the Government does appear unlikely to lose given the Conservatives have not committed to a compensation package.
The Government does appear unlikely to lose a vote on the Waspi issue. While the LibDems and SNP have backed the cause, the Conservatives have not committed to a compensation package.
“The more damaging issue for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves is not the loss of a vote, but the growing loss of confidence in them,” said McDonnell, who promised a Waspi compensation scheme as part of Jeremy Corbyn’s top team in 2019.
Lucy Powell, Commons leader, told BBC Breakfast on Sunday that she “can’t see” the Government revisiting the issue of Waspi women.
“It wasn’t in our manifesto at this election. It was in 2019, and we lost that election in 2019 because people didn’t feel we could afford all the promises we put in our manifesto,” she said.
