Thousands of women will die in cold homes without seeing pension justice over the winter while Tories dish out rewards to rich bankers, a Labour stalwart said tonight.
Baroness Glenys Thornton, shadow equalities minister in the House of Lords, said it was "shamefull" that an estimated 3.6 million women whose pension age was unexpectedly raised have not been compensated.
She voiced her support for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign and said Labour is committed to justice - but warned the £40 to £50 billion compensation package demanded could be a sticking point.
Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Baroness Thornton said: "Over three months of this winter 9,000 women born in the 1950s will die waiting for compensation, many in homes they can't afford to heat, yet the government has disregarded their pleas and in their budget statement have rewarded bankers.
"I think it's shameful."
Campaign head Angela Madden told the fringe meeting that she wants a package of between £10,000 and £20,000 for each of the women affected by the scandal.
This could cost as much as £50 billion in total, she admitted - but said that with one affected woman dying every 14 minutes on average, it needs to be addressed urgently.
The campaign estimates that more than 200,000 affected women have died since 2015.
WASPI estimates that the average affected woman lost up to £50,000 in State Pension after the retirement age was upped to 65, and then 66 without proper warning - meaning women born in the 1950s couldn't properly plan for their retirement.
Ms Madden said: "I would love for everyone to get every single penny back that they lost, but that's not going to happen.
"We need to broker a deal that's fair to us and also fair to the taxpayer."
Baroness Thornton said that as a junior member of the frontbench she could not make any financial commitments - but told those gathered that the party accepts compensation is due.
She said: "This is a huge injustice that needs to be put right."
"As the leader of the party and other frontbenchers have said, they strongly support and identify with the campaign of WASPI women."
The Labour peer said that members of her own family had been affected, stating: "One of my cousins, we really had to help her out.
"She had to retire as a care worker, she wasn't on huge wages, but she had to go back to work in a shop to make ends meet.
"It's awful, she was absolutely devastated and tired out."
She continued: "I know Keir has been listening, I'm not going to say whether we'll be committing to that very large amount of money, but what I will say is that Keir has signed up to the pledge.."
Baroness Thornton said she was "really shocked" that new PM Liz Truss had said she would not be looking at resolving the WASPI dispute.
John Palmer, director of communications at charity Independent Age, told the fringe meeting that before the Covid pandemic, 20% of women over the age of 65 were living in poverty, and with food inflation currently at more than 12% the current picture is likely to be much worse.
Many women born in the 1950s were initially told they would retire at the age of 60 , until the government U-turned in 1995.
That year, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) raised the pension age to 65, and in 2011, the government sped up the process - with those born in the mid-50s told they have had to wait until their 66th birthday.
In July last year the P arliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was guilty of "maladministration" for failing to give those impacted prior notice of the change.
A spokesman from the DWP said last month: "The Ombudsman investigation is still ongoing, there hasn’t been a ruling. The Ombudsman has so far only released the findings of the first stage of its investigation.
"They have not published their final report nor have recommendations been issued regarding compensation, so it would be wrong to claim compensation or other forms of official redress are currently outstanding or overdue."
