Members of Waspi East Kent who have spent years campaigning for women born in the 50s to receive pension justice say they are disappointed at today’s {December 17} government statement that there will be no compensation paid out.
Campaigners say there was a lack of adequate notice of the increase in women’s state pension age from 60 to 65 which impacted 3.6 million women born in the 1950s.
Up until 2010 women were eligible for their state pension when they reached the age of 60 but changes have seen this rise with the age at which women qualify for the state pension moving up to 66 for both men and women.
A legal challenge to the way the Government changed the pension age for women was dismissed by the High Court in 2019 with a finding in favour of the government. An appeal brought the following year was also lost.
In 2021 the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) ruled that the Department of Work and Pensions had committed maladministration when it failed to give women born in the 1950s adequate notice that they would have to wait several years longer to receive their State Pensions.
This year the ombudsman recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 to each of those affected.
A recommendation had been put forward to provide compensation of £1,000 to £2,950 per person, at a total cost between £3.5 and £10.5 billion.
But today the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Liz Kendall said in response to the Ombudsman recommendations: “The great majority of women knew that the State Pension Age was increasing, the Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women – at a cost of up to £10.5 billion – would be a fair or proportionate use of taxpayers’ money.”
She said the government accepts that a 28-month delay in sending out letters was maladministration, adding: “And on behalf of the Government, I apologise.”
But she added: “We cannot accept that – in the great majority of cases – sending a letter earlier would have affected whether women knew their State Pension age was rising or would have increased their opportunities to make informed decisions.
“These two facts – that most women knew the State Pension age was increasing and that letters aren’t as significant as the Ombudsman says as well as other reasons – have informed our conclusion that there should be no scheme of financial compensation to 1950s born women in response to the Ombudsman’s report.”
She added: “First, we want to work with the Ombudsman to develop a detailed Action Plan out of the report, so every and all lessons are learnt.
“Second, we are committed to setting clear and sufficient notice of any changes in the State Pension age so people can properly plan for their retirement.
“And third, I have tasked officials to develop a strategy for effective, timely and modern communication on the State Pension that uses the most up to date methods.
“This Government will protect the pensions triple lock so that your State Pension will increase by up to £1,900 a year by the end of this Parliament.
“We will drive down waiting lists, so you get the treatment you need, with an extra £22 billion of funding for the NHS this year and next.
“And we will deliver the jobs, homes and opportunities your families need to build a better life.
“I know that – on this specific decision – many 1950s-born women will be disappointed. But we believe it is the right decision, and the fair decision.”
The statement comes despite previous support shown by now-PM Keir Starmer in 2022 and pledges from local candidates during husting events in 2019.
Waspi East Kent does not agree with the Minister’s view.
Spokesperson Penny-Anne Wells said: “We are very disappointed regarding the Government statement today. We had been relying on the government to respond to the Ombudsman’s findings of Maladministration by DWP and recommendation for compensation.
“Instead, it appears to contradict the findings. It took six years for the Ombudsman to come to their conclusions. And it begs the question. What is the point of the Ombudsman? It is very rare for its findings not to be acted upon.
“In its statement today, the government apologises and commits to preventing similar maladministration in the future which is in itself an admission to the failings to properly communicate changes to women.
“It sets a worrying precedent if the Government says it will ignore the Ombudsman for reason it cannot afford to pay compensation.
“Many Labour MPs have been very vocal in their support of the WASPI campaign in the past, including Angela Raynor.
“Waspi steering groups will be meeting today to consider the Government statement and plan the way forward for the campaign, but be clear that WASPI is not going away.”
East Thanet MP Polly Billington said she shared Waspi campaigners disappointment but said the ‘difficult decision’ not to award compensation was ‘the correct one.’
She said: “I share the disappointment of WASPI campaigners with the Government’s decision, given the acceptance that the Department of Work and Pensions failed to properly inform women of changes to the state pension age. I am pleased a decision has been reached quickly, after the last government dragged their feet until after the election so this would be somebody else’s mess to clean up.
“The decision not to award compensation reflects the fact that the Ombudsman found that the women in question had not suffered direct financial loss as a result of the Department’s maladministration, with research also demonstrating that by 2006 90% of women aged 45 to 54 were aware that the state pension age was increasing.
“Ultimately, the cost of compensation could have reached £10.5 billion, with the vast majority of it being paid to women who were aware of the changes to the state pension age. At a time when the public finances are under such strain, I believe that this difficult decision is the correct one for ensuring the limited money available to government remains focused on supporting the most vulnerable and repairing our struggling public services like the NHS.”
She said: “I am frankly baffled and appalled by this decision. As a councillor I have held several meetings in Thanet with WASPI women to promote the need for the government to listen, stretching back to 2016, and I also raised this important issue at Thanet District Council.
“So many women have clearly suffered an injustice and have struggled, effectively being forced to work when their health was poor.
“It is not good enough for any politicians to offer support, on a vote winning issue, and then to rescind it. Real harm was done to this group of women. Further harm has been perpetrated today.
“Little wonder women are writing to me to ask, “Labour appears to despise older women and continues to fail them at every turn.” Labour should heed this anger. I hope they do.”
In 2016 Thanet council backed a motion to support the Waspi campaign and lobby Government. The motion stated: “Thanet District Council supports the national and local Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign, the campaign for better transitional arrangements for those women born after April 6th 1951 who now find they will receive their state pension aged 66 not aged 60.
“According to the 2011 census, there are over 13,000 women between 50 and 64 living in Thanet. We need to ensure all women and their families in the affected age group are made aware of the implications of this change due to the impact on family life and the local economy and wish to send a strong message to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions deploring his department’s failure to alert women of the changes.”
What is Waspi and the campaign
Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) aims to highlight hardship and unfairness the movement says is suffered by women born in the 1950s, on or after the 6th April 1951, as a result of the Government’s lack of notice about alterations to the State Pension Age (SPA).
The changes mean the age at which women qualify for the state pension rose from 60 to 65 in November 2018 and then to 66 in October 2020.
The aim is to bring it in line with men’s retirement age. Increasing life expectancy means the government needs to make pension payments later in a person’s life.
But Waspi, and other protest groups, say the changes were not publicised after a decision in 2011 to bring them forward, leaving many women unprepared and facing devastating hardships.
A version of the plans was first outlined in 1995, when the then-Conservative Government planned to gradually raise women’s retirement age to 65 between 2010 and 2020.
This was followed in 2007 by a Labour announcement that both men and women would see their retirement age go up to 66 between 2024 and 2026.
But in 2011, Chancellor George Osborne brought forward the timing of both changes meaning women who had been expecting to start drawing their state pensions between 2016 and 2020 found out that they would face a delay.
A further pension age rise to 67 is planned by 2028 and another to 68 is likely in the following decade.
Absolutely disgusting treatment.
What you would expect for a disgusting government-happy to let old people freeze to death in their thousands & more to block A&E during the busiest NHS season of the year to save a billion odd, while burning tens of billions on overseas climate crisis & rewarding their wealthy donors with pseudoscientific energy deals in return for bunging Labour millions.
Wonder how much the Czech guy bunged Starmer to buy Royal Mail & make it an overseas tax haven, free to do as he pleases without any chance of legal comeback in a UK court?
Seems they lied about compensation for WASPI women just to secure votes. Oh! And the lies about keeping the winter fuel payment Oh! And the lies about renationalising essential services
I largely voted for them because of your 3rd point, naively thinking we’d get better public transport at cheaper prices: then they increased fares by 50%!
Which fares have been increased by 50%?
What’s your thoughts on the lack of compensation for the WASPI women?
Bus fares-up from 2 quid to 3 quid on January 1st 2025.
The £2/3 fare was a cap, limiting the maximum fare chargeable.
The fare has not increased by 50%. The cap has been raised from £2 to £3.
Rail fares have increased by about 4%. That’s nowhere near 50%
And here’s me thinking Andrew wanted more people to use buses (I could imagine the outcry if the Tories had increased fares).
The Conservatives pledged to keep it at £2. Therefore, by voting Labour, it increased by 50%. You’re obviously OK with that, as you are with their treatment of the WASPI women.
https://www.route-one.net/news/conservative-manifesto-pledges-little-for-industry-bar-2-extension/
Semantics Andew-Labour have put yet another tax on poor people, while firttering away obscene amounts on garbage.
Esme, so Billington the paratrooper MP for East Thanet, agrees with these hypocrites who have betrayed vulnerable people, pensioners again, and who voted for them! The Lab/Con party have stepped neatly into the boots of the Tory’s which were still warm, from when the nation booted them out. I forecast the Lab/cons will be a one term government, and are now busy digging their own political graves!
Gauche Caviar Billington promised to scrap the as she described it along the lines of appalling 2 child cap & to keep people warm in an article here in July & then promptly voted to do the exact opposite for both shortly afterwards, while collecting ‘freebie’ concert tickets for her & her partner from Warners-who of course want nothing in return down the line.
She is a lobbyist parachuted in like most of the current Labour MP’s, her socialism is of the champagne variety. More respect for the Labour MP’s who laughed & cheered while voting to freeze old people to death, at least they admit what they are-Tories.
Eh?
More appalling treatment to people in receipt of pensions. The WASPI women are a particularly hard hit group but the ombudsman finding at least offered a small apology. There is plenty of cash to increase payments to NATO, to waste money on a monarchy, subside rich farmers and industrialists, pay water companies bonus to rich shareholders and lots of other rich parasites but nothing for pensioners with massive heating bills or the Waspi women after a life time of hard work!
Still festering in your usual left wing bile Comrade? Still a member of the Liebour Party are you?
I’d be very surprised indeed if Keith is still a Labour member. The way things are going, I may well be voting elsewhere next time too (no, not Reform UK!).
Liberals seem the only other option-though after their helping the Tories kill so many people from 2010-2015 & their current leader being number 8 on the list of highest bung takers from the super rich, I doubt they would be any better than the Tories, Labour(Tories who saw the Conservative ship was sinking) or Reform(former Tory Party members)
Indeed we now appear to be back to pre 1900 when Labour was set up to look after the worst off in society. A bunch of Hoooray Henry’s & Henrietta’s on the take, only interested in themselves, the rich & the royals.
Left wing bile?? What are you implying, Laurence Davies?
Are you saying you’d rather spend money killing people in wars than helping pensioners? Are you pleased to see rich parasites bleeding our utilities dry?
Oh Dear I’ve rattled Comrade Shacklocks gilded cage! Apologies for keeping you up late!
Blimey, I’ve somehow found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with Keith and Ian! What have I done wrong/right?!
Keith Veness – plenty of money to give to their Union Paymasters! You need to come down to earth and accept this Government are a bunch of hypocrites and liars. Worst than previous government!
Have another go at posting Karen.
Starmer lied to Labour Party members to get elected as Party Leader. He has abandoned all those promises. Labour membership has dropped from over 500,000 to less than 300,000.
He got elected as Prime Minister with fewer votes than the Corbyn Labour Party got previously. But he was helped by the collapse of the Tory vote.
He is now very unpopular with the public though ,as his Labour Party only got about 33% of the vote, it couldn,t ever be called a Party “elected with a popular landslide!”
Can anybody think of a set of policies that might be genuinely popular,straightforward to deliver and quickly effective so that the Starmer Party can recover its vote by 2029? Something like public ownership of gas,lec,water,transport maybe? A genuine boost to NHS finances? A refusal to send weapons to worsen the massacres in Gaza,maybe? Popular policies with over 60% public support. And the Starmer Party has made clear it won’t adopt any of them! They don’t deserve our vote.
As ever a mew governement turned up on the first day and Sir Humphrey says “ follow me” and Starmer gets access to the big black book of political realities, where the basics of the nations malaise are laid bare, – too many people doing too little, little or no personal resonsibility, yet they all want everything for nothing – as a result politicians can’t actually do much and to do what little they can have to penny pinch left right and centre, effectively taking where it costs the fewest votes and using the money to buy as many votes as possible elsewhere. Then there are all the little deals that need upholding or making to ease through a parliament.
The end result being that at the end of their term they hand over an even more messed up can of worms to the next gov.
Until such time as we as a nation decide to work harder , waste less, ditch net zero, lose weight, get fitter, not be addicted to social media and the distortions it represents, we’ll just keep going into decline.
Not sure if that is supposed to be satire Grace-but if you really believe all the old tropes of blaming everything on the disabled, the unemployed, single parents, those on low wages, people not working hard enough-even when many of them are working 2-4 jobs & doing insane hours & still having to live out of food banks, then you need her head read, as does anybody else still believing such utter tripe.
This country is in a mess because of corrupt, incompentent & greedy politicians decade afer decade. It is not the fault of anybody but them that they do such things as give a ferry contract to a company with no ferries, no experience of running ferries & who copied their T&C from a Takeaway website-wonder which MP the convicted crook running that operation knew & bunged some cash to?
Giving the PPE for Covid deals to totally useles Tory cronies-that ended up costing around 9 billion as the equipment was not fit for purpose & had to be chucked-not that what passes for the national media seemed very interested in that. Rewarding corrupt & greedy water & energy company bosses for abject failure & in some cases criminal conduct by allowing them to raise prices-as in the water companies case to offset the legal costs for their criminal behaviour, rather then making them pay outof their obscene rigged profits & putting them in jail-as any of us would be for dumping sewage for no reason other then to save money, as admitted in court.
Or this lot-giving a carbon capture (disproven technology) deal worth 22 billion-the same figure as the black hole they refuse to provide any evidence for, yet magically found to give to the hedge fund tax dodgers who bunged them 4 million in exchange for the deal & gave one of their top people a high level job for as part of the dodgy deal. Or effectively setting fire to the best part of 12 billion quid by giving it to overseas climate crisis-which will do nothing as the big polluters of the world have zero interest in changing.
Of course we hear so much about benefit fraud from them to get the media to carry on maligning people on the breadline & below it, yet when you look at the two charts for benefit fraud & tax fraud & evasion by the rich you find the former is negligible & the latter is humoungous. The rich this government promised would carry the burden while in opposition if we elected them & now we find they are in bed with them just like the Tories & Reform & have instead done the Tory thing of punishing the poorest to give them tax breaks etc, while having their own snoughts in the trough.
Social Media/Internet? Is that the new evil thing? The one the governments have hooked people onto & now they really can’t control the narrative they want to take it away from the addicts they created & put sanctions on it because it doesn’t toe the party line? The interent lies are no worse than the governments lies/propaganda, or that of the mainstream national newspapers & broadcasters-their views reflect those of the owners, investors & who is paying them. None of them have any integrity or interest in balanced reporting & if you really believe the governments refrain that social media is now the downfall of society then there is a bridge for sale.
What do you call rich? The top 10% in terms of income pay 60% of income tax. Keep penalising that 10% and they leave , look at Dyson.
At the other end of the spectrum far too many receive far too much. I’ve no problem with a genuine safety net but no time for the feathered nest too many enjoy. I’m a landlord, if i advertise a property i’ll be inundated with the benefit dependent with incomes way above they could achieve at work.
If i have 40 applications 4 will be from young couples , both with “issuesl both on pip and acting as the others carer. The wonders of social media soon let you see what their lifestyles are, living in squalor, lots of cannabis and no intention of changin their ways.
The wealthy , may, not accordingto you pay their dues, but they’ll certainly be net contributors, have private health and education provision ( so a hidden extra contribution) , our ne’er do wells not only take from the system but more importantly don’t contribute.
It can hardly be a coincidence that children from workless households have more issues and end up on limited schooling. ( compounding the problem) yet for some reason the system pays the workless household a carers allowance for such kids. The system only serves to normalise and embed such lifestyles and nothing to change things.
As for the backhanders and dubious practices of government, are you surprised that none of them can lie straight in bed? We’re preached to about net zero , perhaps it should be mandatory for mp’s to have their carbon footprint assessed and published and so lead by example, our deputy PM is reportedly very fond of her foreign jaunts and holidays.
Our net zero goals are a nonsense will just pauper us and make not a jot of difference to the global position. No one has explained how we’ll replace even 50% of petrol and diesel use by electric, or how much reserve gas generation capacity we’d need to keep the country moving in one of our not infrequent low pressure periods in a cold dark winter. Nor has it been announced what the eventual tax/road charging regime will be for elctric vehicle users , to replace fuel duty. Thr ow in say a 50% transition to all electric heating of homes and it’s just an absurdity to say it’ll ne achieved by 2050.
1.5 million homes this parliament again nonsense, it’d only be vaguely possible if we allowed hundreds of thousands of foreign workers into the country , but they’ll bring their families, need housing, education, nhs , services etc adding enormously to the overall cost of the homes built. Again utter nonsense, but will be a way to endear ourselves to the eu.
The legions of the overweight and obese looking to use the new wonder drugs to lose weight ( apparently huge numbers in the country are biologically different to others and all our ancestors and the basics of calories in and out don’t apply) will place a huge burden on the nhs ( as well as removing the need to actually exercise any personal responsibility) though will be less so when generic drugs can be legally made / prescribed. But will these drugs if used as intended actually deal with people who just want an esy fix and then demand to be on them contiually.
Listen to the radio 4 programme this week, utterly astounding some of the comments from those interviewed, people buying the drug online then when things go worng “forgetting” to tell their doctor they’ve been using it.
Worlds gone bonkers.
Yeah, they alweays threaten to leave as blackmail, but they don’t do they? That plastic odd looking Rod Stewart knock off plumbing boss has been threatening to leave if Labour got elected & even when the Tories were in power for how long now?
You aren’t obliged to house them. Having seen Mr Marmite Van Hoogstraten’s documentary, the Asian slum landord Labour MP & the plight of many people on ITV News etc-who after months or years of getting nowhere suddenly have repairmen knocking on their door the night of the news broadcast, or the next morning it seems many weatlhy Landlords like inflicting squalor on them.
I was thinking more like the super wealthy 1-2% really-the ones Starmer said would carry the bulk of the burden, before we knew he was in bed with them all. You know like the huge companies that treat their employees like garbage & pay less tax than a 9-5 minimum wager does.
One does wonder whether Starmer is happy to let migrants stream in as he knows he cannot possibly build the homes he claims to want to-as made clear by the stark reality of the number of vacancies they cannot possibly fill at the weekend.
Again, like Covid the weight loss drugs are being pushed on those that don’t need them by the greedy companies making them, only recently the government took bungs for them-the same day they signed the deal the health secretary was on television talking about wanting to inject claimiants with them! So it is in reality the government falsely pushing it as a fix all problem for their personal benefit, regardless of the horrific side effects.
The people who actually needed drugs for issues-includign type 1 diabetics have often struggled to get them due to the vain celebrities buying them in large amounts-now we are seeing them all parading around looking like emaciated corpses & their faces have aged horribly-that Ozempic chin seems to be the latest trend.
Did you look up James Dyson and his leaving the UK ?how much tax alone has been lost let alone the jobs that went with him, the money he gave to good causes etc. How is that gap going to be filled? Companies can pay relatively poor wages because the state then steps in and tops up incomes, an absurdity created to create an illusion of high employment levels, but which in turn encourages comapnies to build businesses around cheap labour, which we then inport to fill the gaps but then have to somehow conjure up the cash to support them.
As for the behaviour of landlords have a read of this
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-council-leader-apologises-after-more-than-half-of-homes-found-without-smoke-alarms-89564?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=IH%20%2D%20FIRE%20SAFETY%20NEWSLETTER%20CAMPAIGN
And that 7 years after social housing killed 72 people at Grenfell, how many tenants have died as a result of landlord failures in the prs?
The marrative of companies forcing products on people wears thin, if people are daft enough to buy a solution ( or worse expect the nhs to buy) for their self imposed ills then so be it. Giving the drugs to obese type 1 diabetics is only going to help if they use the time on the drug to chnge their lifestyles if they don’t the weight will pile back on and they’ll just seesaw for the rest of their lives.
Why he is delaying the local elections as long as possible next year under the guise of devolution-he knows they will get wiped out, just like the Tories were as their ship was sinking.
Labour got elected purely because we were sick of the Tories lies, corruption & incompetence & the promise of something better. What we got instead was just more of the same & really even worse-you expect it from the Tories, but not Labour. But of course Labour is now just a bunch of disatisfied Tories & greedy lobbyists for sale to the highest bidder & only interested in what they can get-the few that aren’t get suspended for voting for socialism & helping the poorest.
Unfortunately you may well ne right, quite how a nation gets back on an even keel under our present form of governance is beyond me. Endless flip flopping, scandal and about turns will never work and in doing so destroy any faith the electorate have in the system. If things don’t change we’ll end up a very selfish dog eat dog, i’m allright jack, society. It’ll also be deeply divided in racial, ethnic and religious terms as people choose to be among there own rather than integrate and work for society as a whole.
It can’t-they are destroying everything & going back on every promise-other than wasting 11.6 billion on overseas climate crisis.
2 faced labour.
So we are to believe that the ladies didn’t know men retired at 65.
Equal rights is equal rights the women should be happy to retire when do.
It seems to me ladies want to be equal which I fully support, but not equal when it suits them.
I don’t understand how the ladies thought they could have equal rights but not on pensions.
Now if the ladies had fought to bring the men’s age down to theirs I’ll back them 100%
Of course they knew, but when saving for retirement at 60 they wanted more time to adjust to the changes. Not unreasonable.
Besides, why can’t everywhere in the UK – or the very least in England be equal? People get free travel at 60 in London (on buses and trains), yet have to wait until 66 here and most other places.
Peter ,please check the 1995 date (i think it was 1995) when the bill was passed.If these women stopped working at 60 , in the past 20 years and had no income except works pension to live on whose fault is that. Not the government of any colour ,my wife knew about it ,had a quick moan and got on with it.If waspi had won all men should be entitled to compensation,for work past 60
Theey still changed the timeline.
Anyway, as a feminist I believe women are superior to us, and deserve to retire earlier.
No, we are to believe that the governments from 1995-2010 didn’t bother publicising the changes/writing to them etc to tell them.
The correct decision was made.These women were informed,as early as 1995 and many chose to ignore or whine,”Nobody ever told me,until I was 60″.
Too many women want selective equality.There were many sensible women,,who made provisions for the changes,well in advance of the increasing of the pension age.Others,however,just jumped on the WASPI bandwagon,to get a freebie payout.
Quite right Eric
Are you OK with Labour lying about supporting them during the election?
Strange, seeing as they knew nothing about it. Apparently neither the Tories who did it in 1995, or the Labour governemnt that followed seemed to bother making this clear to them & then the Tories who got in in 2010 decided to speed it up. Seems most women had no idea about it until 2012.
SGBNA,did you not read that 90% of women,aged 45/54 were aware of the impending increase,in line with men?
According to Starmer, it was also found that the DWP/Government communication of it was incredibly poor-2006 is a long way from 1995-nearly a decade of lost planning under both Tories & Labour. Plus even if you take his figure at face value, then what about the other 10% that didn’t know?
Also, why if Starmer, Rayner, Reeves & Kendall were opposed to them, did they campaign for them in opposition, make promises to rectify it if elected & couldn’t wait for their photo op pictures with them that are now being used on social media to totally embarrass them as the liars they are? Reminiscent of all the other broken promises they made that have been thrown back at them the last six months?
Just shows how morally bankrupt most politicians are vowing to support the WASPI women with a very justified cause in opposition, and then reneging on all their promises when elected. Plus the Tories not pushing the ombudsman’s findings through. Meanwhile, billions wash out of the country to a lost war in Ukraine (unaudited) and to foreign farmers’ aid while our own are destroyed. At least Karen Constantine has spoken out on the trashing of the WASPI rights. We see them and all their lies.
Has local MP Polly Billington commented on this decision? Perhaps Kathy can ask her?
Not much point-she already proved what a liar she & her party are here back in July, when she went into print saying she/they would keep people warm in their homes & lambasted the two child cap she said they would get rid of-days later she & her party voted to keep it in place & not long after voted to freeze pensioners.
At least cllr Karen Constantine is sticking by her principals and being very vocal about it on social media. Still think she’d have made a far better local MP (though she’d probably have been kicked out the party by now!).
Polly’s statement now included
Rather expect she’ll have a social media video of her talking in parliament about it ( being the latest bandwagon to jump on) and she’ll then move onto the next opportunity to get into Hansard. About time she settled on one or two matters and worked at making a real difference.
Yes,she is quoted in the article,again getting her tongue an even darker shade of brown.
Yet she like the others remain in the party-they can talk all they like, but until they walk then they are tacitly supporting it. Do as the MP for Canterbury & Barry Lewis in Thanet did & go independent. If you have socialist values then why do you stay propping up what is now the New Conservative Party?
The fake Labour Party under starmer has betrayed ordinary people, i
Believe there has to be a new left wing party to replace the Labour Party which has been infiltrated by careerists who are only interested in their own well being.
Indeed-Liberals are our only current hope & I am not convinced that in power they would be any different than Conservativee, what calls itself Labour currently or Reform. We know Clegg was no Lloyd George-last seen & I believe still currently filling his snout from the bottomless trough of Facebook to the tune of tens of millions & I seriously doubt their current leader who likes ‘freebies’ is either.
There needs to be a true Labour party-even if under a different name with the socialist values of Benn, Foot, Corbyn etc. It makes me sick to see the current lot saying how much they admire Thatcher, copying her disastrous policies of attacking the poor & disabled in total contradiction of their manifesto pledges (should be illegal) & filling up their seats with Gauche Caviar lobbyists only interested in what they can get from politics, rather than genuine socialist politicans working to better the lives of the worst off in society.
Mr Lewis – you know what I know and that’s a left wing Labour Party would not be electable. However, the current shower will also not be re elected next time around. I fear for the future!
FedupB, can you please share the reasons why you are convinced that a proper left wing Labour Party can’t be elected? Is it because the mainstream media puts endless energy into brainwashing the public and smearing the whistleblowers?
I’ve changed my mind about Corbyn. He could never have been as bas as this shower of …
Because,in this case,it was the correct decision.Who is not going to support it,when in opposition?
Oh cry me a river. A less meritorious case for public compensation is hard to think of. Why on earth should the public purse compensate people for failing to engage in pretty basic financial planning? The Ombudsman maladministration finding was not to do with the actual change in date, but failure to send letters to a select group of these women within a set time period (a degree of prior warning we don’t seem to expect for any other group impacted by a change in fiscal policy). The idea that millions should be “compensated” on that basis is complete rot. Effective marginal tax rates for the under 40s are sky high but no, let’s indulge another round of boomer entitlement.
Well, why were the likes of Starmer, Rayner & Kendall all over it doing photo ops with them & saying they would sort it out if elected then?
Solely because it was an easy and cheap way to garner a few more votes , all politicians do it, they’re little more than estate agents, -tell people that their house is worth 3x to get the business, then when reality strikes mumble about the state of the market and house eventually sells for 2x- can’t be trusted, ever.
Words and phrases such as , intention, target, goal, aspire, review, etc etc all used to give an impression to blocks of voters that their particular issue will be resolved, when all ithey really mean is that they’ve used “flexible”language , nothing but wallpaper and weasel words.
More lies & virtue signalling from Labour when they wanted power-just like the pensioners they promised to keep warm, the starving children with the cap they promised to abolish, the farmers & the poorest in society they have been abandoned & were just pawns in their game.
Yet 50 million for King Charles, 50 million for Syria-apparently the Jihadis are now our friends according to Labour-reminiscent of Libya with Bliar, endless billions for Ukraine, tens of millions for overseas farmers but not our own, nearly 12 billion on overseas climate crisis, the missing black hole of 22 billion found for the useless carbon capture technology to pay back the tax dodge hedge fund that gave them 4 million for the deal etc.
Labour Party don’t like the elderly as we cost them dear. Plus a lot of them vote Tory. However this Labour Party have declared war against pensioners and most will vote against them next election and in any local elections. This decision to not equalise pensions for women says all you need to know about this shambolic party. Mind you would the Tories have paid them if they were in power now. I don’t think so as they had many years to do so. This decision is a very poor one in my opinion. Starmers army is pants.
You are not alone-most of us will be voting them out at every opportunity. Though Starmer knowing what a kicking they will be getting in the locals, as happened to the Tory shambles before him has decided to ‘delay’ them as long as possible, under the guise of devolution. Really is a spineless, Napoleon Complexed, tinpot dictator.
Oh I quite agree about the point of posing/promising on this; nobody should have supported it on the merits (or lack thereof) to my mind
OK! So what is everyone proposing? I see a lot of finger pointing, very poor use of statistics and the usual gratuitous name calling, but no answers.
WASPI women here Starmer and Kendall are emphasising £10bn,when the actual cost might be £3bn or less.What I see as the way forward is to help those who are going to receive/have received a low pension some help, maybe not £1000’s but something. Not all either need it or were misold if you wish, but some were.Remember also men were expected to work till 65 so in terms of equality it was fair,but the govt (Cameron,may,Truss and Sunak) either chose not to explain,warn or empathise,and now this government is facing the wrath of those who feel cheated.
Next affordability. I assume we can agree that the nation’s finances are not in great shape.So if we give it to WASPI women, who else should miss out? The NHS?
Defence? Parents with more than 2 children? Transport? Education? Housing?
The list is endless.
How about taxing the better off a little more? Or Businesses? Well we have heard plenty from those sectors.
We could borrow more, but then there are plenty who suggest that country is going bust.How about print money?
None of the options are attractive. There is good cases for some restitution, but by how much and when is not clear.
What I do know is these are the hard choices we have heard so much about.
Everyone feels hard done by,everyone feels their case should be given priority, and it would take the judgement of Solomon to strike the balance of fairness and I don’t think Starmer is Solomon.
Blaming the poor and fat people Grace, is not a good characteristic.Most people are poor due to circumstances not design.As for obesity, may I refer you to the programme on the BBC that pointed out that obesity grew substantially when the food industry stated pushing, low cost ingredients and methods in their products.you can blame smokers for smoking, but it’s popularity and promotion was pushed by some of the same companies that are now embedded in the food industry.It is arguable that the food industry is as much to blame for the obesity epidemic as those caught in the weight loss circle.
I can see the local reform ensemble are present but I don’t see how they are going to fix anything. It’s easy to pull things down or disrupt, but much harder to build, restore or revive.Let me let you into a little secret: There was no golden age, when people were nice,left their front doors unlocked, and did not abuse anyone.If you look back, you will find plenty of comments just like these throughout the ages, its just that now, you can post them out to a wider audience.
How do you feel about Labour members like Karen Constantine being openly critical of the government’s decision? Should she toe the line, or stick to her principals, knowing that many of these women voted for Labour because they trusted them?
Oh, and one thing I would cut is ALL Arts Council funding. But you know that already.
You can choose to believe people have got fat due to the influences of others, i don’t , the vast majority can choose to be a reasonable weight, it doesn’t cost that much the real input is some effort and not gorging for the sale of it.
Too many of those on benefits these days are there because it repesents the most income from the least effort. I recently had to explain to a tenant that wanted to leave a property with no notice that they’d still be liable for the council tax, they didn’t believe that as an empty flat it’d be costing me the landlord around £150 a month to be empty , because they only paid £10 a month. To which the response was that there was no point in getting a job if they had to pay that much. That the state doesn’t force people to take up skills training ( much could be done on the web as distance learning) is a major failure and just embeds the benefit lifestyle.
I know Karen and she is free to comment as an individual.I am not a booster for Labour,in fact I find some of them a right pain, but unpleasant as it is,we have to compromise and politicians also have to compromise.Those who don’t soon crash and burn.If by some misconception Farage was PM, you watch him twist and turn. Life’s not perfect and it would be a grey old world if the tiny sums spent on arts funding were withdrawn.I know very little about the arts world, but I do know that Britain benefits economically and in terms of influence and soft power. Even though we have suffered with clod hopping and inept politicians in the last decade,the arts through film and tv have given the UK great influence.
Cliftonville Art Shelter? People Dem Collective? A LOT of funding clearly gets wasted (or worse!), and most certainly does not benefit anyone – except the “artists”. At the very least, there should be an entry fee for places like Turner Contemporary that get substantial public funding.
There is a pile of money to pay WASPIs, the money owed. All one has to do it take a look at the Whole of Government Accounts 2022/23 to see that the national debt fell by £1.5 trillion.
Given Interest rates remain at 4.75%, this means the debt in 2023/24 will fall again, but by about a £1 trillion. There is no black hole, pensioners didn’t to have their winter fuel allowance cut, nor WASPIs denied what they are owed.
The foolish continue to slavishly believe the mainstream media, as they cannot read a set of accounts (WGA 2022/23) which clearly show the money is there to give to the WASPIs and others.
URGENT be aware theres a petition on the uk parliament petition page call a general election read it carefully to be aware of the facts..it currently has2,988,657 signatures and you can help in getting many more. firstly by signing it and then by resharing it widely all over the uk with as many like minded people and groups as you possibly can and be sure to ask each one of them to do exactly the same as im asking you in this messsage…BUT and this is very important for you and all others when resharing it you must only use e mails as they cant be censored or suppressed..but shh your not supposed to know that
I don’t want to sign a petition asking for another election. I want to see what the current government does. Was there such a petition when the Tories got in? If not, why not? And if so, how long had the Tories been the ruling party before that petition appeared?
To get back on-topic… how do you feel about the decision not to pay the WASPI women any compensation? Was it the right thing to do?
As for “want to see what the current government does”, they’ve already cancelled the WASPI compensation, scrapped many pensioners’ winter fuel payment, increased bus fares by 50%, and caused a recession… what else are you waiting for, nuclear war?
Anyone else up for intelligent debate?