THE chair of the Waspi campaign has called on Scottish Labour MPs to “be brave and vote with your conscience” as the SNP prepare to force a vote on delivering compensation to 1950s-born women.
Angela Madden said she hoped Scottish Labour MPs would follow their MSP colleagues and call on the UK Government to compensate women who were affected by changes to the state pension age if a vote happens next week.
The SNP are set to force a vote on the matter after the Labour Party chose to ignore recommendations made by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) and not hand Waspi women compensation.
The watchdog said Waspi [Women Against State Pension Inequality] women should be paid up to £2950 each, a package with a potential total cost of £10.5 billion to the public purse, as poor communication meant they had lost out on the chance to plan their retirement finances.
In a vote at Holyrood this week, Scottish Labour MSPs joined with other parties across the chamber to call on the UK Government to rethink its stance, with Michael Marra insinuating at one stage that Scottish Labour MPs would vote the same way if a vote were to come to Westminster.
Now that a UK vote looks set to occur, Madden (below) has called on Scottish Labour MPs to remember their commitment to their constituents and stand with Waspi women.
Asked what she would say to Scottish Labour MPs, she told The National: “I would ask them to be brave and vote with their conscience.
“I can quote Jonathan Brash from Hartlepool at the debate at Westminster Hall. He said ‘the role of a Member of Parliament is not to offer unquestioning subservience to their party. When something is wrong they have a duty to say so’. He said ‘I cannot and will not abandon these women’.
“I think the MPs really have to think about the commitments they made to their constituents and whether they now feel it’s morally defensible to abandon those commitments.”
The UK Government is coming under huge pressure to change tack and set out a compensation package after the ombudsman this week said Labour had “undermined” its report.
Karl Banister, deputy ombudsman at the PHSO, highlighted a 99.9% compliance rate for its recommendations and described Labour’s behaviour as “extremely unusual”.
The ombudsman warned the watchdog would become a “toothless tiger if Parliament steps away from supporting us when there isn’t compliance".
New Pensions Minister Torsten Bell also responded to a Parliamentary Question about Waspi compensation by saying the Government’s claim that most women knew about the changes was based on a survey of only 203 affected women.
The minister said the Government then used this figure to estimate the percentage of the 3.6 million Waspi women across the country who knew about the changes, sparking fury amongst campaigners.
When asked how Scottish Labour MPs would vote in a Westminster poll, Marra suggested at Holyrood they would back compensation, but leader Anas Sarwar later would not offer any clarification when he spoke to The National.
Sarwar (below) has previously said the decision taken by the UK Government was “wrong”.
Madden praised the “brave souls” who spoke out at Holyrood and said Waspi would be making sure Scottish Labour MPs are still on their side.
“I am really pleased there are still some brave souls in Parliaments, and there are some in Westminster too, who will stand up and say this is not right,” she said.
“Hopefully the Government will listen and if the Scottish Labour party in [the UK] Parliament are of the same mind then, if they have an opportunity, hopefully they will vote in favour of Waspi women being compensated.
“We’re going to have to speak to the Westminster MPs and check they are still with us – because they always have been with us – and keep lobbying.
“The ombudsman actually did not give the report to the Government or the DWP, he handed it to Parliament, and Parliament is up to the moment not being allowed to handle it, the Government and the DWP have done it without reference to Parliament other than telling them about it.”
Several Labour ministers and MPs have come under fire for turning their back on Waspi women after posing for pictures with them pledging to ensure justice was delivered.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has already said the decision not to pay compensation was the right one.
Asked how Waspi women were feeling amid political infighting, Madden added: “We’re broken-hearted. We have used the mechanisms that Government has told us are the right mechanisms to use to get heard, and we still aren’t being heard.
“It’s like people are trying to change what happened to us.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has set out his intention to introduce the Women’s State Pension age (Ombudsman report and compensation scheme) Bill to the Commons for further consideration next week.
This would require ministers to publish measures to address the findings of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) report.
The 10-minute rule process allows Flynn up to 10 minutes to make a speech on why he wants to introduce his private member’s bill (PMB) and an MP wishing to oppose it can also make a 10-minute speech.
The House will then decide whether or not the PMB should be introduced and receive a first reading, which involves having its title being read out and an order for the bill to be printed.
The SNP have said they will force a vote, which could include supporters of the motion also shouting no to trigger a formal division.
While Madden said she doesn’t feel anything is likely to change the Government’s mind, she said a vote will show the strength of feeling in the House.
“None of these things will compel the government to do anything but what they are really useful for is showing the Government the strength of feeling across the House,” she said.
“A lot of MPs, and it is a lot, feel that something is seriously wrong here.”
