Business of the House

Debate between Chris Law and John Hayes

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)]

I am extremely grateful—[Interruption.] Oh, I beg your pardon.

[Chris Law (Dundee Central) (SNP)]

I thought there was a doppelganger in the Chamber for a second, Mr Speaker.

A new Government can make political choices, and one would have thought that, in the week before Christmas, they would be positive choices—things that people could take home and feel grateful and happy about on Christmas Day. However, as has just been mentioned by the hon. Member for South Shields (Mrs Lewell-Buck), millions of women throughout the country, 1950s-born women, have been affected, quite adversely, in respect of their state pensions. Many are in ill health, and are continuing to work in ill health. They lived in hope for many years during their protracted, passionate and very reasonable campaign for fairness and justice, and on Tuesday this week they were told that they were getting none of it. We have an ombudsman, which has made very clear, very fairly and decently, what amount should be paid in compensation, and has also made clear that the Department for Work and Pensions made errors at the time.

Since Tuesday, not only have we received emails, but Members of Parliament, particularly Government Members, have been deleting pages from their websites and Twitter accounts—the very pages that showed them campaigning out there with WASPI women, getting their photographs taken, doing videos, sending messages and so forth. Now they have no voice. They are frightened even to raise the issue in this House. May I therefore urge the Leader of the House and the Business Secretary to arrange a debate as soon as possible, a meaningful debate in Government time? No ifs, no buts; we all need to have our say on this.