WASPI women 'badly let down' says Tom Watson
Tom Watson has pledged his support for women he says have been 'very badly let down' by increases in the state pension age.
Labour's deputy leader welcomed members of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign group to his offices in West Bromwich to back calls for pension relief payments for women born in the 1950s.
Launched in 2015, the WASPI campaign is seeking compensation for what it views as the unjust treatment of women who have been left out of pocket due to changes to the state pension age.
Acts of parliament in 1995 and 2011 led to the pension age for women rising from 60 to 65. It is set to come into force in 2018, two years earlier than originally planned.
Campaigners say the changes have left more than three million women in Britain in limbo after they stopped work at 60 only to later find out the retirement age had been extended without adequate notice.
Labour has pledged £155-a-week pension relief for those women affected.
WATCH: Watson meets WASPI campaigners
Mr Watson, the parliamentary candidate for West Bromwich East, said: "The stories from the women affected by the rise in the pension age are truly heartbreaking.
"These women have worked all their lives, paying into the state pot, only to then find out the rules have been changed.
"They have been very badly let down."
Mr Watson has pledged to raise the issue in Labour's General Election manifesto meeting on Thursday. He also urged Theresa May to address the issue as a matter of urgency.
Susan Curtis, aged 62, from West Bromwich, said she is struggling to make ends meet after she was forced to leave work to look after her ill husband.
"I had to cash my pension in early at a greatly reduced rate and now I'm left with very little to live on," she said.
Bridget Green, a WASPI leader in the West Midlands, is keen to start a WASPI support group in Sandwell. For information email birminghamwaspi@gmail.com
