The Department for Work and Pensions has been warned £2,950 compensation payouts for WASPI women “cannot be ignored”. A Parliamentary debate turned fiery this week as Labour Party MPs broke rank to call on the DWP to payout cash to those impacted.
Labour MP Jonathan Brash of Hartlepool fumed: “The role of an MP is not to offer unquestioning subservience to their party, when something is wrong, they have a duty to say so.” South Shields MP Emma Lewell Buck said that “an injustice is an injustice.”
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, representing Clapham and Brixton Hill, said: “What is the point of an apology without redress? People voted for a Labour Government to act in a more compassionate way than its Conservative predecessor.”
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Labour MP John McDonnell said: “Not to have that implemented has crushed people. It’s crushed their confidence in the whole system.” He called on Labour ministers to act, saying: “I have to say to my own party in Government, what we need now is the Government to sit down with the WASPI women.
“Either implement this scheme or mediate for an alternative. We need action. This issue isn’t going to go away, we’re not going to go away. The women aren’t going away. Tragically some of them are dying, but this campaign will go on until we secure justice.”
Waspi campaign chair Angela Madden condemned Labour’s position, saying: “Labour MPs are in agreement with those across the Commons and the country who are outraged at Starmer’s blatant denial and delay of justice.”
DUP MP Carla Lockhart spoke of how thousands of WASPI women in Northern Ireland “feel absolutely betrayed by this Government”. She said: “Women today are in financial hardship because of this betrayal. It is morally indefensible that not a penny has been made available to these women.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “We must be clear. State level injustice is state level injustice. It can’t be ignored. An apology alone is not sufficient, and we must see a remedy forthcoming to address the clear and apparent injustice these women have faced.”