Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2025
Certainly. There have been numerous letters and debating points that we have discussed with the UK Government. I stand ready to send yet another letter to the UK Government after today’s debate. I hope to be able to say that we have voted unanimously to support the WASPI women. However, it is up to Ms Lennon’s party and others to come to that conclusion at decision time.
The women have already fought an uphill battle on pension savings equality. That injustice mirrors other pension injustices such as the wider pension gap that I mentioned. What women did not expect was for a Labour UK Government to make the situation more difficult for them. Surely the first new UK Government in 14 years should aim to learn from the mistakes of the past—and, in the case of the WASPI women, ensure that the mistakes are rectified as soon as possible, with any future changes to state pension age being clearly and thoroughly communicated—yet we have more of the same excuses, a failure to take responsibility for the harm that has been caused and a failure to act. The WASPI women deserve so much better than that.
While the UK Government continues to fail the WASPI women and our older people, the Scottish Government is continuing to ensure that they are being provided with the support that they are entitled to. Here, in Scotland, we understand that our older people are a diversely experienced and highly valued part of our society.
Over the past few years, energy prices have been one of the highest drivers when it comes to fuel poverty, with increases in fuel prices having the largest impact on the change in fuel poverty rates in Scotland between 2019 and 2022. However, one of the first policy announcements of the new Labour Government was the scrapping of the universal winter fuel payment, many recipients of which were probably WASPI women. It is becoming increasingly clear just how little the UK Government regards the issues faced by the older generation as something to take action and deliver on.