It’s not just Waspi women, the government has taken everyone for fools

You don’t have to agree with the principle of the Waspi women’s campaign to sympathise with their feelings of betrayal. Cynicism is one thing in politics, but saying absolutely anything to get in power will ultimately harm democracy, says Alys Denby

Waspi stands for: Women Against State Pension Inequality. It’s a confusing name, because the cause of the group’s complaint is, in fact, the opposite – namely pensions equality between men and women.

Women born in the 1950s claim they were inadequately informed about the (obviously necessary) increase in their pension age to bring it into line with their male peers, and have suffered financially as a result. Some even say they stopped working earlier than they should. 

A report from the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman found that the government had been slow in sending letters to this cohort – though the information was widely publicised elsewhere – and that they deserve billions in compensation.

On Tuesday, the work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall announced that she rejected the watchdog’s findings because the vast majority of women did know about the changes to their pensions. She said that a £10bn state-funded payout would not be “fair or value for taxpayers’ money”.

It’s unfair to ask taxpayers’ to fork out for retirees’ inability to read the news

She is correct. The government should not be giving handouts to an entire generation, regardless of their circumstances, because some of them were incredibly poor at financial planning. Claims by one Labour MP that this was an “historic injustice” like Grenfell or Hillsborough are absurd. This is nothing like the Post Office or the infected blood scandals, where compensation is very clearly due. Pensioners are one of the best protected groups in society, with the triple lock guaranteeing them more generous benefits than working-age people and more than a quarter of pensioners living in millionaire households.

No woman today could reasonably argue that she should be able to retire earlier than a man. Indeed women under 47 won’t even be able to retire at the age the Waspi cohort are so incensed about, because the pension age is rising to 68 for those born after 1977. And even so, spending on pensioners, including the rising costs of health and social care, has reached unsustainable levels, projected to rise to over a fifth of GDP by 2050-51. Young people, many of whom do not enjoy the security of owning a home, will work longer and pay more of their money to support a generation that never had to make similar sacrifices. Kendall is right that it’s unconscionable to ask taxpayers to fork out for retirees’ inability to read the news. 

MPs marched with the Waspi women

But right choices can still cause political problems and it’s particularly awkward for this government that Labour previously stood on a manifesto pledges to give to give every woman affected an average £15,380 at a cost of £58b. MPs marched with these women, held up their placards and lobbied on their behalf. Liz Kendall’s website still carries a picture of her holding up a sign pledging to “deliver a fair solution” for Waspi women. They can’t have anticipated that the “fair solution” she had in mind was that they’d get nothing at all.

So it’s possible to sympathise with the women’s feelings of betrayal while disagreeing with the principle of their campaign. This is hardly the first time Labour has made childish promises it has failed to keep. Whether it’s positioning himself as the heir to Corbyn or ruling out tax rises on “working people” Keir Starmer has proved himself capable of saying absolutely anything to win power. Cynicism is one thing in politics, but the Prime Minister has taken the British public for fools – and that will only harm our democracy.

And for all Labour’s cunning manoeuvers in opposition, they appear worryingly unready for the realities of government. Having campaigned as though all Britain’s problems were down to the moral failings of Tories, they are discovering that running a country is actually really hard. If one good thing comes of the Waspi affair (apart from saving the public £10bn) it may be that ministers start facing up to their own responsibilities. If they can disregard an ombudsman they could have done the same for independent pay review bodies when they recommended above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers. They chose not to. 

Conservatives should not fall into the same trap. Those who believe in a smaller state should welcome policies like this and means testing winter fuel payments, instead of opportunistically accusing Labour of “cruelty” to pensioners. And let’s not even start on the SNP calling for a Commons vote on the decision when they could hand as much money as they liked to women in Scotland, where they are in charge.

Hypocrisy is the right word for the government’s treatment of the Waspi women – but there’s plenty of it to go round.