MP demands full compensation for WASPI women
A LOCAL MP has challenged Rishi
Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer to promise full compensation for the 6,000 WASPI women in his constituency.
Martin DochertyHughes, SNP MP for West Dunbartonshire, warned that not fulfilling this would be a “betrayal to the women in Scotland who have been so badly let down Westminster.”
A report published last month by the Parliamentary and
Health Service Ombudsman called on the UK parliament to provide suitable compensation for the country’s estimated 3.6 million WASPI women.
Campaigners have criticised both the Tories and Labour Party for failing to promise to uphold Westminster’s responsibility to provide justice and fully compensate the 1950s-born women.
The House of Commons Library estimates that 6,020 women in West
Dunbartonshire have been affected by unfair changes to their state pension age, with more than 335,000 impacted across Scotland.
Mr Docherty-Hughes said: “Rishi Sunak and
Sir Keir Starmer must finally give a castiron guarantee to the WASPI women in West Dunbartonshire that they will be fully compensated for this huge Westminster scandal.
“For too long, more than 6,000 women in my constituency have been silenced - but no longer.
“The report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman could not have been clearer - the WASPI women were failed, and they were failed by Westminster.
“So whether it’s
Rishi Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer that enters No. 10 after the next general election, both political leaders must now commit to fully compensating the millions of women who have been let down by the system.
“A failure to do so would be a betrayal to the women in Scotland who have been so badly let down. They have suffered for long enough. It is time for action.”