Friday, May 15, 2026
The first thing to fix if Starmer is to survive
There is an opportunity to make a start on this reset with the news that the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign has announced it is going ahead with a High Court challenge against the decision to deny millions of 1950s-born women compensation.
The Mirror says that new analysis for the campaign found WASPI women outnumber the majorities of sitting MPs in 302 constituencies - including 142 Labour-held seats:
Neither the Tories nor Reform have pledged to overrule the decision not to award compensation. Angela Madden, chair of the WASPI campaign, said: “The Government has had every opportunity to do the right thing for WASPI women.
"Instead, they have made a political choice that risks alienating voters in hundreds of marginal seats across the country. Labour MPs have seen the electoral data.
"They know WASPI women have the numbers to unseat them. Yet ministers continue to ignore the independent Ombudsman, their own backbenchers, and millions of voters.”
And she added: "We will not be ignored, and we will not give up this fight." In 2024 the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was guilty of maladministration for failing to properly communicate changes to the state pension age.
This meant they were unable to plan for their future, the watchdog said, urging compensation of £1,000 to £2,950. This would cost up to £10billion, a bill the Government said it was not prepared to pay.
In January, affected women were told for a second time they would not receive compensation. The WASPI campaign is now seeking a fresh High Court challenge, and is in the early stages of preparing it.
Between April 2010 and November 2018 the State Pension age for women gradually increased from 60 to 65. It went up again to 66 in October 2020, and is due to go up to 67 by 2028.
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said in March: "The Secretary of State set out the Government's position in his oral statement to Parliament, including acceptance of maladministration and apology to the women affected.
"Our focus now is on delivering an action plan to implement lessons learned in how DWP communicates state pension matters going forward."
This was an issue that Labour MPs, including Keir Starmer campaigned on prior to the general election, only to jettison it as soon as they got in power. It is one od several broken promises that has led to Labour's appalling poll ratings and election losses.
If the Prime Minister carries out another u-turn and agrees to the compensation now, then that will show that his speech about putting things right had some substance to it after all. I won't hold my breath.
