There has been yet another decision from the UK Government which will hit the Scottish Labour party with a nasty sting – and tensions north of the border are rising.
Yesterday, the UK Labour-led government announced compensation for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign would be an unfair use of taxpayers’ money which may cost the government in excess of £10 billion to roll out.
At Prime Minister’s Questions today, Keir Starmer argued that the taxpayer “simply can’t afford the tens of billions of pounds” in payments, adding that “90% of those impacted knew about the changes that were taking place”.
This means, however, that nearly 4 million women across the UK – including thousands here in Scotland – will not receive any compensation despite the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s recommendation that they should.
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The news comes as a bitter blow to the Scottish Labour party whose MSPs have been photographed campaigning with the Waspi women and spreading messages of solidarity with their campaign for years.
Anas Sarwar even posted on social media in 2017: “Under my leadership, Waspi women will finally receive the justice they deserve.”
The Scottish Labour leader has finally come out this afternoon saying he “does not think it was the right decision on compensation” the UK Government made and “given the public finances a different way forward could have been found”. He did commend the apology from the UK Government to the women impacted.
Praising an apology is all well and good but it does not change the decision which will impact thousands of women here in Scotland.
The news of the lack of compensation for Waspi women comes after previous instances where the Scottish Labour party has had to bite their tongue on decisions the UK Government has made such as maintaining the Conservative’s two-child benefit cap and cutting back on winter fuel payments.
The Herald understands tensions in the Scottish Labour party are rising as a result.
The decisions made by the UK Labour government are also providing ample ammunition for other parties. The SNP has called for a vote on Waspi compensation in the House of Commons today and First Minister John Swinney said this is yet another serious embarrassment for the Labour leadership in Scotland.
After speaking to various insiders, I know people in Mr Sarwar’s own party agree with the First Minister when he says this is embarrassing.
A survey by Norstat conducted this month showed a sharp decline in support for Scottish Labour. Analysis since then found the biggest change in Holyrood voting intentions has been among older voters. With recent cutbacks to the winter fuel payments for pensioners and the lack of compensation for older women, Labour isn’t helping itself.
To avoid further stings from pensioners and the rest of the public, the Scottish Labour party needs to pave its own way before irreparable damage is done ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election.