Women’s State Pension Age: Ombudsman Report

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Thursday 16th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

I begin by commending my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Patricia Gibson), not only for securing this debate on the ombudsman’s report, but for her continued determination in representing the WASPI women and seeking the justice that they have been so cruelly denied by their own Government.

Those include women such as Mary Barclay from Bellshill, who came to my advice surgery just on Friday to ask me to come to this House today and ask this Government to do the right thing by her and the thousands of other women who have had the rug pulled out from underneath them. She also spoke to me about some of the 280,000 women who have died during this fight for justice and how, along with thousands across my Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill constituency, she will continue to fight for what they are entitled to. I put on record my thanks to Mary for the time she spent informing me of the real and deep impact that this issue has had on her in later life.

Across Scotland, it is estimated that almost 356,000 women were impacted by the WASPI pension scandal. Many of the women affected were already in ill health. Others had taken early retirement and were planning to get by until the age of 60, when they thought they would receive their state pension. However, Westminster Tories had a different idea. The UK Government instead invented reasons for countless delays in the hopes that the WASPI women would simply go away, but I think they have proven that they will not go away—no chance. Their campaign for justice continues.

I return to that figure of some 280,000 women who have passed away without seeing the justice that was owed to them. As many as 40,000 woman are dying every year without getting any form of compensation. That is outrageous and wilful neglect of the duty of any Government. It is shameful. It is a betrayal of the most callous kind of those impacted by the UK Government’s maladministration.

The SNP welcomes the findings of the PHSO’s report, and it is clear that the Westminster Government must now take responsibility for the hardships that they have caused women born in the 1950s and make urgent amends for mistakes made. WASPI women have been struggling for years now with this injustice, and just about every other whim and decision that emanates from this place has also taken its toll. We have heard about the Horizon scandal and the infected blood scandal, but there is also the cut to pension credit for mixed-age couples, the freezing of the hard-earned state pensions of pensioners living overseas, and this Government’s scrapping of free TV licences for the over-75s. All those decisions impact on WASPI women. On top of the self-inflicted cost of living crisis, it is just becoming too much for some of them.

The UK Government must not only apologise for the harms caused by their clear and obvious maladministration, but act urgently to deliver the justice and the compensation that these women so richly deserve. The report is clear and damning. It has made a finding of failings by the DWP in this case and has ruled that the women affected are owed compensation. The PHSO’s chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said:

“DWP has clearly indicated that it will refuse to comply.”

That is outrageous. She continued:

“This is unacceptable. The Department must do the right thing and it must be held to account for failure to do so.”

To this very day the DWP has not acknowledged its failings. It has also failed to offer any apology or explanation, and has indicated that it will not compensate women affected by its failure.

The SNP here in Westminster and in government in Holyrood has always supported and will continue to support the WASPI women and their valiant efforts, yet many here in Westminster who were previously very vocal in supporting the WASPI women have now fallen eerily silent. The very same can be said for prominent Tory and Labour figures up the road in Holyrood as well. On 1 May the Scottish Parliament moved a motion on women’s state pension compensation that

“agrees that the UK Government must now urgently deliver on the ombudsman’s recommendations to pay compensation in full to those women without delay”.

That motion passed in the Scottish Parliament with votes from the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish Greens and the Alba party. The Tories and the Labour party shamefully abstained on that vote, and that speaks volumes. It certainly speaks a lot more than the silence that comes from their Benches. I have to say that, if the WASPI women are pinning their hopes on an incoming Labour Administration, they probably need to prepare themselves for yet more despair.

Why is that? They need only familiarise themselves with the lengths that the Labour administration in North Lanarkshire Council went to in order to avoid paying out on equal pay claims owed to women over many years—spending millions upon millions of pounds on legal fees in the process of fighting those justified claims, and then losing. The same happened, as we have heard, in Labour-run Glasgow City Council. Those two parties, the Tories and Labour, are not interested in equality for women; the evidence is before us, friends, so forgive me if I have no faith whatsoever in the change that the Labour party is purporting to offer.

Labour could, of course, surprise us; it could support the State Pension Age (Compensation) Bill in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown), of which I am a co-sponsor. The UK Government and the Labour party could and should back his Bill and immediately set up a compensation scheme for all the women affected. We know that they will not, but we are asking them here today and reinforcing those calls.

It is clear that only a strong SNP voice in Holyrood and here in Westminster can hold this or any UK Government to account, whether it be a Tory or a Labour- led Government.

[Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP)]

We have heard demands that the Secretary of State here in Westminster should apologise, and quite clearly he should, but my hon. Friend will remember that 10 years ago, almost to the day, a very senior former Labour Prime Minister was doing the rounds in Scotland, speaking at meetings of middle-aged and elderly people, promising them categorically that their pensions were safe with any United Kingdom Government. Does my hon. Friend believe that it is now time that an apology came from that politician for the way that he deceived and misled millions of people in Scotland?

[Steven Bonnar]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. That was just one of the mistruths we were told during that campaign—we were also told that we would maintain our place in the European Union. The WASPI women have been completely shafted, for want of a better word, by the politicians who were charged with delivering justice for them.

The SNP and the Scottish Government in Holyrood stand ready to engage with the Department for Work and Pensions when the UK Government finally agree to compensate the WASPI women. There is still hope that this Government will agree to do so, because justice should be done. After years of promises made by Tory and Labour MPs and MSPs, both parties are now refusing to accept the report’s recommendation to compensate fully the women who have been impacted.

It is time for the Tory and Labour parties to stop dithering and to put the funding in place so that these women can get the justice they deserve before it is too late. It should also be crystal clear once again—this is not an extreme proposition and it should not be seen as such—that the only way to protect Scotland’s pensioners from the whims of Westminster Governments and to ensure dignity and fairness in retirement is for Scotland to have the full powers of its independence.

Coastal and Rural Communities: Employment

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2024 Westminster Hall

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie) for securing this important debate, because it gives me the opportunity to address an incredibly concerning issue for the people of Scotland.

A depopulation crisis is gripping our valued rural and coastal communities. Scotland’s agricultural industry is the linchpin of the rural communities in Scotland and the economy. Those communities are hard-working. They are full of hard-working individuals who show great resilience to sustain their families and the dinner tables of many more families across these four nations. Scotland’s agricultural sector employs more than 67,000 people, making it the key employer in rural Scotland. Scottish farmers and crofters support thousands of supply chain businesses, estimated at more than 130,000 jobs, and generate a gross output of £3.3 billion annually for the Exchequer in the UK. Despite that resilience and input, our rural and coastal communities face challenges that threaten their very existence. From the decline in traditional industries to the encroachment of large corporations, the forces arrayed against them at times seem formidable. However, we need to be clear: the people of those communities are not defeated, nor will they ever be defeated. They possess a real spirit of resilience, and it is our duty to support and empower them in every way that we possibly can.

Depopulation is not merely a statistical anomaly: it is a profound threat to our economic prosperity, our cultural heritage and the social fabric of such communities. The numbers are stark. Although Scotland has seen modest population growth, the highlands and the Western Isles face alarming declines. Between 2011 and 2022, the population growth in the highlands was a mere 1.4%—less than half the national average. Projections paint a grim picture for the Western Isles as well, where a decline of 6% is anticipated by 2028. Behind those figures lies the harsh reality of an ageing population, with the number of over-75s in the highlands at 60% over that same 10-year period.

That demographic shift is compounded by economic challenges, particularly in sectors vital to rural and coastal livelihoods. We must make no mistake: the aftermath of Brexit has rocked industries such as agriculture, fisheries and food and drink production. It is exacerbating labour shortages and disrupting supply chains. That is the reality of Brexit being faced by people in rural communities across Scotland. Reports from the East of Scotland Growers, for instance, highlight losses of 3.5 million heads of broccoli and 1.5 million heads of cauliflower; due to labour shortages, they were left to rot in the ground. In the seafood processing sector, which relies heavily on migrant labour, up to 92% of the workforce in certain facilities across Scotland comes from eastern Europe. Those are not just figures: that is the harsh reality caused by broken Brexit Britain.

Wherever we can, the Scottish Government have been resolute in their efforts to address those undoubted challenges. The Scottish rural visa pilot scheme that we championed recognises the urgent need for immigration policies that support the economic and social viability of rural and remote communities. The solution to depopulation probably extends way beyond the insular immigration policies of this place. Investment in rural infrastructure and connectivity is vital to attract businesses, create job opportunities and retain the talent that coastal towns require. Although broadband remains reserved to this place, the Scottish Government, led by the SNP, have taken proactive steps to bridge the digital divide through initiatives such as R100 and the Digital Scotland superfast broadband programme. Those efforts, coupled with the commitment to future-proof digital infrastructure, are crucial to drive inclusive economic growth and ensure that no community is left behind.

Supporting sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy and hospitality and tourism not only fosters economic growth but preserves our cultural heritage and our way of life in those community settings. The Scottish food and drink industry contributes more than £15 billion to the economy annually, and it relies heavily on rural and island communities for its workforce. It demands urgent action and bold leadership, but we do not see them coming from this place. That is why the SNP has already shown that it can be done, using the limited powers at our disposal, but the sector’s future ultimately lies with the UK Government unless we remove the shackles and ensure that the decisions are made by those who are most impacted by them—the people of Scotland—and that we can manage our affairs in full.

Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Wednesday 15th September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

I am very grateful to be called in such an important debate. The controversial plans to withdraw the universal credit £20 a week uplift are regarded as the biggest single welfare cut since world war two. Anti-poverty campaigners and children’s charities have warned that the cut will be devastating for millions of families already facing the financial cliff edge we have heard so much about.

We have also heard from former Tory Ministers—I am surprised by that, but we have—who have written to this Chancellor, urging him to make the £20 uplift permanent to avoid sending thousands of families further into financial crisis. If these plans go ahead, the cut will hit nearly 6,000 people currently in receipt of universal credit in my constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill. Thirty-eight per cent. of those who will see their income hit are already in employment. They are hard-working people—key workers, food producers, shop workers, security guards and cleaners—thrown on the scrapheap. Some 16% of that number are under 25. It is another hit for the next generation by this Conservative Government.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said that 6 million will face an income loss equivalent to £1,040 a year. Citizens Advice has warned that a third of people on universal credit will end up in further debt. One hundred organisations, including charities, children’s doctors, public health experts and even a Tory think-tank have co-signed a letter calling on this Government to do a U-turn on the planned universal credit cuts. We have seen plenty of U-turns from this Government—let us have one on this issue please. It comes after a month-long campaign led by my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) and the SNP for the UK Government to maintain the £20 uplift and extend it to legacy benefits. It follows a letter signed by six former Work and Pensions Secretaries condemning the cuts.

The Scottish Government remain committed to doubling the Scottish child payment to £20 a week by the end of the Parliament. In contrast, the Tories are still planning to go ahead with slashing the £20 despite warnings that it will plunge 20,000 children in Scotland further and deeper into poverty. In my constituency, 26% of children live in poverty. It is a disgrace to allow that already shameful number to grow even further, but the Tories do not care.

On top of that decision, we have another hike in national insurance in Scotland that will most hit those who have least, to pay for a healthcare crisis in England. If that is the Union dividend, for Scotland the Union is a dead end. The youth of Scotland will know that. The Prime Minister and his Chancellor should know that, given the number of U-turns they have had to commit. I will support the motion and hope that everyone else will do so, too.

Universal Credit: Delayed Roll-Out

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Will Quince]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question but do not accept the anecdotal points that she makes. Governments and Ministers make and take decisions based on evidence. I am building the evidence base within the Department based on the family resource survey and the questions in it in relation to food insecurity, and working with food bank providers—the Trussell Trust being one, but there are around 800 independent food bank providers—to better understand the issues and how we can tackle food insecurity in the round and for good.

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

This Government need to take a long, hard look at themselves and the pressures they are placing on hard-working, low-income families and individuals. I do not trust the Minister’s pledges. For a hard-working, loving parent, it is absolutely, gut-wrenchingly worrying—which is no doubt beyond the comprehension of many of the privileged folk of this place—to find out that the moneys they are depending on, and entitled to, will not be coming. I do not need to visit a jobcentre to know that; I speak with some authority on the matter, because until my election to this place, I was a universal credit claimant, as a single parent. I ask the Minister to scrap the five-week wait and stop plunging hard-working families and individuals into further debt by making it necessary for them to avail themselves of a loan from the DWP.

[Will Quince]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I would suggest very strongly that he should visit his local jobcentre, because he would have a better understanding. [Interruption.]