Labour ministers have been accused of “betrayal” after ruling out compensation for women who lost out when the rules over when they received their state pension were changed.
Keir Starmer was among those who gave their support to the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign when the party was in opposition.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall told MPs on Tuesday that it would not be “a fair or proportionate use of taxpayers’ money” to pay up to £10.5 billion to those affected.
That was despite the parliamentary and health service ombudsman ruling that the women should be compensated due to mistakes made in the way the changes to their pension age were communicated to them.
Women’s state pension age was increased from 60 to 65 so it was equal with men’s between 2010 and 2018.
But the campaigners insisted they were not adequately informed about the change.
Speaking in 2022, Starmer said the Waspi women were the victims of “a real injustice”, adding: “We need to do something about it.”
Kendall herself was also pictured with a sign saying: “I will work with Waspi to identify and deliver a fair solution for all women affected.”
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, re-posted the picture on X and said: “The Labour secretary of state is currently stating that her government will not provide any financial compensation to the Waspi women. They are shameless.”
Waspi chairwoman Angela Madden said: “The government has today made an unprecedented political choice to ignore the clear recommendations of an independent watchdog which ordered ministers urgently to compensate Waspi women nine months ago.
“This is a bizarre and totally unjustified move which will leave everyone asking what the point of an ombudsman is if ministers can simply ignore their decisions.
“It feels like a decision that would make the likes of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump blush.”