Waspi women decision shows Labour offered hope without a plan
Being involved in politics isn’t a normal thing. To care so greatly about a cause you make it your job, or even stranger, campaign on it in your own time, is not behaviour most of the country would recognise.
Sure, people vote and they care, but to really make it your life, to pour years of yourself into something, is hard. It shows dedication and belief, not just in your principles, but that those values and the cause are areas not just that you think should be improved, but *can* be improved, if you just make your voice loud enough.
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Hide AdIt was this sense of effort that dominated my thoughts this week, as the UK Government announced it would not be compensating the Waspi women. 3.6 million born in the 1950s, including hundreds of thousands of Scots, missed out on better pensions, and that’s the end of it.
I have no strong opinion on the issue, it’s a terrible misfortune that costs billions to fix, but I am rather more angry that so many politicians offered these women false hope. Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, and Liz Kendall are just a few of the senior politicians who spoke about the need to help the Waspi women, and posed for photographs with them. Labour may say the facts have changed, £22.2 billion black hole, there’s no money, but that simply isn’t good enough. You do not say you will do something if you can’t, it is politics 101, and they should all have known better.
The Waspi women have had a stall at Labour conference as long as I’ve been covering politics, they’ve campaigned constantly for this, not just for themselves, but many women who didn’t miss out, but joined the cause in solidarity. They have given themselves to this issue, and Labour MPs lined up for a photo. Now they’ll line up again, but to vote against compensation.


It speaks to a fundamental issue with Keir Starmer’s start to government. There is simply no coherence, no long-term plan, the years of opposition have somehow passed without the party establishing a position on the key issues. Many Labour MPs probably think the monarchy should be abolished, but they aren’t going to do it, so wouldn’t pose with signs saying they support it. You don’t offer false hope, it erodes trust. It’s like promising to restore faith and standards in politics, only to take loads of freebies, appoint a twice disgraced Blairite peer as your US Ambassador and embrace a rhetoric on immigration entirely at odds with the progressive values your party purports to stand for.
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Hide AdThis is sadly not just about the Waspi women. It’s the £28 billion a year in green investment, scrapping the two-child benefit cap, national insurance, bankers’ bonuses, the bulk of his leadership pledges, and even promising farmers a “new relationship”. I suppose technically that last one isn’t a U-turn. It all speaks to a government without a guiding principle, fundamental values it came into power for.
Given the season, let me put it in Christmas terms. Don’t tell someone they’re getting a Playstation if they aren’t. Don’t promise to help address an injustice if you won’t. If you don’t think everything can be fixed, don’t do the photo-op. That’s not very Christmassy.
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