Reeves says compensating Waspi women not ‘best use of taxpayers’ money’ as backlash grows – UK politics live
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Good morning. Keir Starmer is facing his last PMQs of the year and, if he takes a glance at the papers this morning, he will find that he is being attacked by the Tory papers for not implementing a Jeremy Corbyn manifesto promise. Here are two of the headlines about yesterday’s announcement that the government will not compensate the so-called Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women – women who lost out because they were not properly notified about the planned rise in their state pension age.
Daily Mail: : Betrayal that proves Labour cynically said. ANYTHING to get elected #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/eBaI0DVTki. Daily Express: LABOUR HAVE BETRAYED OUR OAPs TIME AFTER TIME #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/jqRpI9BXb6. The Daily Telegraph has not splashed on the story, but it does have it on the front, under the headline “Labour betrays Waspi women with U-turn on pension payouts”. It is true that, when Corbyn was leader, Labour did promise compensation for the Waspi women. But when the parliamentary and health service ombudsman (PHSO) recommended compensation worth up to £10bn in a report earlier this year, Keir Starmer very deliberately did not commit to implementing this, and his manifesto did not promise Waspi compensation.
Starmer is probably comfortable ignoring criticism from the pro-Conservative papers, but he will be more concerned about the fact that the Daily Mirror has taken up this cause too. Daily Mirror: We have been betrayed #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/z5vh116Qhi.
