Starmer wrong to deny Waspi women payout - Sarwar

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says the prime minister was wrong not to compensate women affected by the UK government's failure to adequately warn them about changes to the state pension.

The MSP said the UK government was right to recognise the "injustice" faced by the women, but added he was "disappointed" there was no payout.

It came after Sir Keir Starmer said the Treasury couldn't afford to pay out compensation, with Labour ministers warning the total cost could have risen to more than £10bn.

Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) says 3.6 million women born in the 1950s - including hundreds of thousands in Scotland - were not properly informed of the rise in state pension age to bring them into line with men.

Asked if he supported the UK government's decision, Sarwar told BBC Scotland News: "I think they're right in the apology, I think they're right in recognising injustice, I think they're wrong on the compensation."

He said he recognised the difficulties the government was facing with public finances, but said ministers could have looked at some form of "targeted" or "tapered" support rather than blanket compensation.

Sarwar added that he believed ministers could have arrived at "a fairer compromise".

Senior Labour figures - including Sarwar, his deputy Jackie Baillie, Sir Keir and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray - publicly backed the Waspi campaign in recent years.

In 2022, Sir Keir signed a pledge drawn up by Scottish campaigners for "fair and fast compensation" in 2022.

However, Labour did not commit to compensation in its 2024 manifesto.

Anne Potter, a Scottish Waspi member who met the prime minister when he signed the pledge in 2022, told BBC Politics Live she was "disgusted" by the UK government's decision, describing it as a "slap in the face".

Her constituency MP, Labour minister Michael Shanks, told the programme that spending more than £10bn on compensation would not be "a good use of public money at this time".

Waspi says women born in the 1950s were not properly told that their state pension age would rise from 60 to 65.

Those plans were first announced in the 1990s and then sped up with the 2011 Pensions Act.

In March, a UK parliamentary ombudsman recommended compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 for the women. Waspi had called for at least £10,000 each.

Although UK Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall apologised for a 28-month delay in sending letters warning of the pension change, she said there was no evidence of "direct financial loss" resulting from the government's decision.

The UK government said the total cost of compensation schemes suggested by the ombudsman could range between £3.5bn and £10.5bn.

First Minister John Swinney said the UK government's decision was a "serious embarrassment" for Scottish Labour.

Responding to Sarwar, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn posted on X: "Labour's Branch Office Manager in Scotland helpfully confirming, once again, that he holds no sway over Labour in London."

Speaking to BBC Scotland News earlier, he branded Labour ministers "cowards" and accused the UK government of betraying Waspi women.

"It's been happy enough to offer an apology, but it's not happy to offer compensation – against the advice of the independent experts," Flynn said.

He has urged opposition members to force a vote in Parliament to "flush out" Labour MPs "shameless enough to stand behind the plaques saying that they backed the Waspi campaign but who are now of course backing Keir Starmer's spineless government".

Sarwar's call is not the first time he has publicly diverged from UK Labour since Sir Keir took office in July.

The Scottish Labour leader has previously spoken out against the two-child benefits cap, which the prime minister has refused to scrap.

He also said means testing for the winter fuel payment was too strict after the UK government scrapped universal coverage for millions of pensioners.