I’ve formally signed a cross-party Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM) demanding that the Westminster government immediately compensate 1950s-born women impacted by changes to the State Pension age.
The move intensifies the pressure on Westminster to address the long-standing WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) scandal, which has left thousands of Scottish women in financial hardship.
Despite the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman confirming that maladministration occurred, the Westminster government has repeatedly refused to implement a fair compensation scheme for those affected.
The WASPI campaign has highlighted how poorly communicated increases to the State Pension age forced women into poverty, with many receiving little to no notice of the changes.
The EDM condemns the Westminster government’s decision to ignore the Ombudsman’s recommendations and calls for immediate mediation with WASPI representatives to deliver overdue financial redress.
The treatment of WASPI women by successive Westminster governments is nothing short of a national disgrace. These women worked hard, paid their dues, and had the rug pulled from under them with almost no warning.
This WASPI injustice is yet another clear example of why Westminster isn’t working for Scotland. For years, we have watched as Westminster ministers ignore the Ombudsman, ignore the campaigners, and ignore the clear moral obligation to pay the compensation the WASPI women deserve.
It is increasingly obvious that Scotland’s pensioners would be better served if we had full control over our own pension policy. Instead of being an afterthought in a broken Westminster system, we could build a social security net that treats our 1950s-born women with the dignity and respect they earned.
The WASPI generation has waited long enough—it’s time for Westminster to pay up or get out of the way.
