The government has said it won’t be compensating women hit by changes to the state pension age, despite years of campaigning and a watchdog recommending payouts. It’s sparked backlash across the political divide. Listen to Politics at Jack and Sam’s as you scroll.
Wednesday 18 December 2024 10:06, UK
Reform UK’s Richard Tice has defended the government’s decision not to compensate the Waspi women.
He told Sky’s Kay Burley: “Waspi women have been fighting a significant campaign. But the reality is we haven’t got £10bn just to fling around.
“And the reality is, [Reform UK’s] economic policy of lifting the starting point of paying any income tax to £20,000 – that’s an extra £1,500 for anybody working and those receiving pensions.
“That helps the Waspi women, along with everybody else.”
We put to him that not backing the Waspi women isn’t actually an issue for him as his party is supported by many more young men than women.
Mr Tice replied: “There are lots and lots of women who may well have been part of the Waspi group who support Reform because they recognise that our economic policies are the only ones that’s going to get this country growing again.”
That, he said, is the reason they have surged in the polls of late.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has told Sky News Breakfast that he is “very disappointed” that the government has chosen not to compensate the Waspi women.
“I thought the government was going to do the right thing. I hope they change their minds,” he said.
He also noted that the Ombudsman, that recommended compensation, took five years to come to that conclusion.
The government in the 1990s was “under a duty to inform [women] properly [about the pension age change], to write them letters”.
“And they failed to do that properly. And that’s why the independent ombudsman made the rulings, and why I think it’s incumbent that the state compensates people when we’ve had this special report,” he said.
The Conservatives’ shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, was asked on Sky News Breakfast why the Conservatives did not help the Waspi women during their 14 years in government.
He told is: “We received the report, and sadly, we weren’t in office long enough to consider the consequences of that.
“The big issue about Waspi is the betrayal of voters.
“I didn’t queue up as so many Labour cabinet ministers did, talking about how they were going to right the injustice, pledging to support the Waspi women, get elected on a false prospectus and then come in and do something different.”
He went on to say that there is a “pattern of them saying one thing to get into office and then doing something different”, which is “very corrosive for trust in democracy”.
Sky’s Kay Burley pointed out that compensating the Waspi women wasn’t in the Labour manifesto, but Mr Griffith replied: “I think every Waspi woman and campaigner genuinely believed that this government, the Labour government, had they got elected, would do something.
“They’d all talked about it: Keir Starmer had talked about it, Angela Rayner talked about it, even Liz Kendall, who yesterday said they weren’t going to do a single thing about it, had talked about it.”
He added that he is not saying the Tories would have done something either, but said the government gave the public one impression, and did something else.
The Tories’ shadow business secretary has told us that he is “not surprised” that inflation has risen once again, and he said data also shows that businesses are not hiring again.
Andrew Griffith continued: “My real worry is that every day, the contours of the damage being done to our economy are being revealed.
“If this were a plane and there were so many dials in the red, you’d be looking for a parachute.”
Sky’s Kay Burley put to him that the Tories drove the economy “over a cliff”, and he replied that in the wake of the pandemic and the breakout of war in Ukraine, they got inflation back down.
“I’m not saying we got everything right, Kay. But what are we going to do now? And what we are here to do is represent people in Britain who are worried about their bills.”
He went on to say that he is “genuinely really worried for the economy, and I’m worried about the economy that we might one day inherit”.
Asked for his take on warnings of a recession, Mr Griffith said: “I feel we may already be in recession, actually.”
He went on to say that a lot of capital is flowing into the US due to their “optimistic agenda and their desire to reform government”, but “we don’t see any of that here”.
He added: “I honestly think Rachel Reeves is leading the economy in the wrong direction. We’re not going to have another election anytime soon, so it’s really important that they change course.”
We’ve just been speaking to the Conservatives’ shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, and we started by asking if Reform UK should be taking money from Elon Musk.
He replied that Mr Musk has businesses in the UK, so for that he reason, he said he “suspects” that a donation is “probably legitimate”.
But he went on to say that if he cares about freedom of speech, he should “look at the Conservative Party”, and Kemi Badenoch’s record on “the gender agenda” and “protecting children”, as well as stopping Nigel Farage being “de-banked”.
“So there’s only one real official opposition policy in the UK. There’s only one party that’s daily taking the fight to this socialist government, and that’s the Conservatives.”
Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes.
Today is the last PMQs before Christmas, and Jack and Sam discuss how Sir Keir Starmer is leaving things in Westminster, including an RMT strike by staff working for Avanti West Coast, planned for the end of the month and into next year.
The pair discuss the current state of Britain’s rail network and how essential it is for the prime minister to follow through on his promise to fix the country’s trains.
Plus, could one of the biggest donations in Britain’s politics be on the way to Reform after Nigel Farage met Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion?
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We’ve just been speaking with the deputy leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, and we started by asking about Nigel Farage’s meeting with Elon Musk, and if his party will be taking a donation from him (see previous post).
Mr Tice replied: “Let’s wait and see.”
He continued: “He’s indicated very strong support for Reform. He recognises that Britain, the UK economy, is in a terrible state.
“He’s got significant business interests here with regards to Starlink, X, Tesla. He wants Britain to do well.
“At the moment, Britain is doing badly. We’ve got an economy that is flatlining, going down. We’ve got job vacancies reducing, business confidence collapsing.
“So, Mr. Musk supports Reform. He knows that Britain needs Reform.”
Asked if an American businessman should be able to influence UK politics, Mr Tice repeated that Mr Musk has a “very significant interest here”.
He pointed to Gary Lubner being the “biggest single individual donor last year” to the Labour Party.
“Funny how they’re a bit quiet on that when they’re questioning. So are they anti-American, or what is it? Or is it just cherry-picking?”
Mr Lubner, of course, moved to the UK back in the 1980s, while Mr Musk has never resided in the UK, although he does have British ancestry.
Pushed on the question once again by Sky’s Kay Burley, Mr Tice said: “I think an international businessman, as long as it’s legal under the Electoral Commission laws, as the Labour Party have accepted donations, as the Tory party have accepted donations from international businessmen – yes, it’s absolutely fine.
“They’ve got business interests here who can legally make that donation.”
By Alexandra Rogers, political reporter
Nigel Farage and his party treasurer have met with Elon Musk at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time since rumours surfaced of a multi-million donation from the tech tycoon.
The Reform UK leader and Nick Candy, the billionaire husband of singer Holly Valance who will take up the fundraising role for Mr Farage’s party in the new year, met on Monday 16 December, the party said.
The meeting comes following reports that Mr Musk was considering donating £78m to Mr Farage – an ally of Mr Trump – as a “f*** you Starmer payment”.
Later Mr Farage tweeted he had also met JD Vance, who is set to become vice president.
The Times reported last month that if Mr Musk does decide to make the donation, he would do so through the British arm of his social media firm X, formerly Twitter, to circumvent UK rules that prevent foreign donations to a political party.
The chancellor was pictured back in 2020 backing the Waspi women’s campaign “for state pension justice”, but the government has now decided not to compensate them.
She was asked by broadcasters if she understands why people are accusing her of having lied.
Rachel Reeves replied: “I understand that women affected by the changes to the state pension age feel disappointed by the decision.
“But we looked in full at the ombudsmen recommendations, and they said that around 90% of women did know these changes were coming, and as chancellor, I have to account for every penny of taxpayers money spent.
“Given the vast majority of people did know about these changes, I didn’t judge that it was the best use of taxpayers money to pay an expensive compensation bill for something that most people knew was happening.”
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has just been speaking to broadcasters to give her reaction to the second month in a row of a rise in inflation.
It ticked up from 2.3% in October to 2.6% in November.
Ms Reeves said the figure is “comparable to other countries around the world”, pointing to inflation in the US at 2.7%, and 2.3% in the Eurozone.
“So, broadly in line with our international peers,” she said, but added: “I recognise that the cost of living crisis continues to bite.”
She pointed to an increase in the national living wage and freezing the fuel duty as measures the government is taking to help with the cost of living.
“So we recognise the challenges that families remain under, and are taking action to address that ongoing cost of living challenge,” she said.
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