Adam Harmsworth, Coventry Socialist Party
Since 2015, Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) has campaigned for compensation for millions of women impacted by their increase in state pension age from 60 to 65. They have already won the legal argument, with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recommending they be reimbursed at least £1,000 each.
In December last year, Starmer added ‘justice for WASPI women’ to his list of broken promises. Just three years before, he signed a pledge for “fast and fair compensation” and got himself in photos with WASPI campaigners. After the Ombudsman called for such compensation, he suddenly decided it wasn’t affordable.
On 22 May, the WASPI campaign reported that Andy Burnham, Labour candidate in the Makerfield by-election which takes place after the Socialist goes to press and who could soon challenge Starmer for position as Labour leader, “made clear that his support remains as strong as ever”.
But just three weeks later he dropped his ‘strong as ever’ support. A spokesperson for his campaign has instead hinted at other ways to reimburse them, such as concessionary rates on public transport. For millions of WASPI women it will feel like a betrayal.
Labour MPs and capitalist commentators fretted when Burnham restated his support for the WASPI campaign at a by-election hustings, blurting the £10 billion compensation cost across the newspapers. One Labour MP even compared Burnham to Jeremy Corbyn for making the pledge!
The reality is that £10 billion is an extremely modest figure compared to what is actually needed to rescue millions of pensioners from poverty and ensure a decent standard of living for them in old age. In the fifth-biggest economy, WASPI compensation is affordable. But, the capitalist class won’t be giving up any cash without a battle.
Burnham’s flip-flop shows he is feeling the pressures of working-class people and the super-rich bosses and bond markets at the same time – that’s why he has raised water nationalisation, he knows it’s popular. But while Burnham is wedded to the capitalist system, he will be forced to do the bidding of the super-rich and attack workers’ living standards, as Starmer has in power. WASPI women, all pensioners, all sections of the working class, can expect to be worse off unless we come together as a class to fight for the better future we need.
