Women’s State Pension Age: Ombudsman Report

Debate between Richard Burgon and Duncan Baker

Thursday 16th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Duncan Baker (North Norfolk) (Con)]

It is a great honour to follow the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms), who has encyclopaedic knowledge of this subject. I am grateful to him for his speech.

It is no surprise that I want to speak in today’s debate, as I represent the oldest cohort of constituents in the entire country. In North Norfolk, there are somewhere in the region of 5,000 WASPI women who have been impacted by this issue, and not a week goes by without my receiving correspondence from women who have been affected terribly. I will come to the report’s findings in a moment, but I will first reflect on the real impact of this scandal and on what has happened to the women caught up in it. The problem with this place is that we often forget about the real people and the real suffering. We sometimes get very preoccupied with the political and financial problems in front of us and questioning why they happened in the first place, but that is somewhat secondary, because we must not forget about all the women who have really been affected. Across the country, thousands of women in our constituencies are affected.

[Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman is making an important point about finding a resolution. It has been over 1,000 days since the ombudsman found the Government guilty of maladministration. We have heard the shocking figure that a WASPI woman dies every 13 minutes, which means that over 100,000 affected women have passed away since the ombudsman’s finding. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will agree that we need to work together to ensure that the Government get a move on in bringing forward compensation proposals before the summer recess. because people are passing away and time is of the essence.

[Duncan Baker]

I totally agree with the hon. Gentleman. It is now about speed, and I will come to that point later in my speech.

WASPI women have already suffered for years and years and, now this report has been published, we should learn from the other injustices we have seen, such as the Post Office scandal, that speed is of the essence. We need to come up with a remedy as quickly as possible.