Labour left in mutiny over Keir Starmer's betrayal of 3.8m Waspi women - after government blocked £10.5bn of compensation
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Labour was in mutiny last night over Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘betrayal’ of women born in the 1950s hit by state pension age changes. MPs lined up to attack the Government for abandoning a vow to compensate the 3.8 million ‘Waspi’ women who were told they would have to work five years longer before receiving a pension.
![[WASPI campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/23/93271269-14207717-WASPI_campaigners_stage_a_protest_on_College_Green_in_Westminste-a-21_1734563168324.jpg)
The Prime Minister insisted yesterday taxpayers could not afford the £10.5 billion compensation package and declined calls for a vote on the decision. He came under fire from his own backbenches – with veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott tweeting: ‘Promising one thing in opposition and doing the opposite in Government is a betrayal.’.
![[WASPI campaigners stage a protest on College Green in Westminster, London, as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivers her Budget in the Houses of Parliament]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/23/93271267-14207717-WASPI_campaigners_stage_a_protest_on_College_Green_in_Westminste-a-20_1734563164051.jpg)
She had earlier joined rebel MPs in criticising the decision at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling the Commons: ‘We did promise them that we will give them justice. I understand the issue about the cost, but does the Prime Minister really understand how let down Waspi women feel today?’.
![[Chancellor Rachel Reeves proudly posed for photographs in 2020 alongside Waspi campaigners]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/23/93268053-14207717-Chancellor_Rachel_Reeves_proudly_posed_for_photographs_in_2020_a-a-22_1734563184667.jpg)
Independent, formerly Labour, MP Ian Byrne told the chamber the women had experienced an ‘injustice at the hands of the state’. And he asked: ‘Will the Prime Minister give members the opportunity to vote on whether they believe Waspi women are owed compensation?’.
![[Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has also previously shown her support for the campaign having posed with two WASPI women in 2019]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/23/93268051-14207717-Deputy_Prime_Minister_Angela_Rayner_has_also_previously_shown_he-a-23_1734563192375.jpg)
Sir Keir replied: ‘The simple fact of the matter is, in the current economic circumstances, the taxpayer can’t bear the burden of tens of billions of pounds in compensation.’. Keir Starmer (pictured during PMQs today) insisted that taxpayers could not afford the £10.5 billion compensation package.
![[Liz Kendall, who on Tuesday rejected the The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) watchdog's recommendation to compensate the WASPI women, poses with campaigners in 2019]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/18/23/93268055-14207717-Liz_Kendall_who_on_Tuesday_rejected_the_The_Parliamentary_and_He-a-24_1734563226383.jpg)
