We need strong voices to speak up
With every passing week, it feels like the UK General Election is coming closer and that the incompetent UK Tory government can’t hold out for much longer.
Even in the past few days, they’ve managed to lose a couple of junior ministers who have resigned, stating that they won’t be standing for election again.
On top of recent by-election defeats and rumours about Tory MPs wanting to topple another leader, and force the electorate to put up with yet another unelected Tory Prime Minister, maybe this election could be along sooner than we think.
Normally during the run up to an election, you would get the main parties outlining their policies – focusing on what makes them different from other parties.
Yet Labour is not only condemning the Tory government for their failures, but at the same time becoming a pale imitation of the party they want to replace in government!
In the past few weeks, we have even seen Labour frontbenchers, including Sir Keir Starmer, his shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy all proclaiming how great Margaret Thatcher was.
It’s clear that Labour have given up any hope of winning seats in Scotland with such pronouncements.
The only other mainstream alternative on offer is the Liberal Democrats but who would want their leader – Sir Ed Davey – as Prime Minister when he was the minister who turned his back on the Post Office Horizon scandal, which led to so many people facing false charges.
Although the wheels of justice are slow, and it looks like it’s going to take some time for all those hounded by the Post Office to get their names cleared and receive compensation, at least there is something for them to look forward to – unlike the WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women.
Despite their long-running campaign to fight for justice for all women born in the 1950s affected by the changes to the state pension age which were implemented with inadequate or no notice, their justice campaign seems to have slid further down the plans of both Labour and Tory parties.
A recent report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found changes to the state pension age were not communicated adequately and those affected should receive an apology and compensation.
However, the Tory government has failed to act and now even the Labour party – again copying the Tories – are trying to back away from the original support they gave to WASPI women.
In 2019, the Labour party promised compensation for the WASPI women but, recently, the chair of Labour said circumstances have changed and that the women deserve “respect” – that simply isn’t good enough.
We all remember the photos of Labour politicians standing beside those women who had their retirement plans destroyed by successive Westminster governments, claiming they support them and agreed they should be given compensation.
Where are those Labour politicians now?
The treatment of the WASPI women highlights a Westminster system of government that doesn’t care – and now it shows that any future Labour government are simply going to follow the Tories and offer respect but no compensation.
It’s getting clearer that the only strong voice – whether for WASPI women or for anyone else in Scotland – is to vote SNP.