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Angela Madden, who chairs the WASPI campaign, says she is hopeful of launching a judicial review in the new year and said Keir Starmer had ‘underestimated’ 1950s women
WASPI campaign chiefs are in talks with lawyers over a New Year court showdown with the Government.
Anger is growing after ministers said they would not be giving payouts to over 3.5million women, despite a Parliamentary watchdog saying they should. The decision, announced by Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall on Tuesday, sparked disbelief among activists who have been lobbying for nearly a decade.
Last night Angela Madden, who chairs the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign, said legal experts will be working over Christmas looking at grounds for a judicial review.
Mrs Madden told The Mirror: “I think Liz Kendall, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have significantly underestimated us. They have underestimated our skill, our knowledge, our tenacity and even our intelligence. I mean, how dare they say we don’t read letters.
“We will not forget this.” In March the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman called on Parliament to urgently pay out between £1,000 and £2,950 to affected 1950s-born woman. It followed failings at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) which meant victims were not properly informed that the state pension age was rising. As a result they could not plan for the future.
She continued: “We have managed to speak to our lawyers, so that process is already underway, and we’ll see what happens on that in the New Year.” The WASPI leader – who retired at 55 to care for her mother, unaware that the state pension age had risen – hit out at the timing of the Government’s announcement.
“For a judicial review we have to do it a maximum of 12 weeks after the 17th of December (when the announcement was made). We are hoping we will be able to challenge.
“They hope the furore will die down by the time they come back on January 6. Well, I think they’ll find their hopes dashed. What’s the point of having an ombudsman if you can just totally ignore the bits of what they say that you don’t like?”
Three days after the announcement, Mrs Madden said she was still “shocked”. Furious backbenchers have called for a Commons vote on the decision, and the campaign leader said it should be put to MPs.
A compensation package as recommended by the ombudsman would cost the Treasury between £3.5billion and £10.5 billion. Speaking in the Commons this week Mr Starmer said: “I set out the history but the research is clear that 90% of those impacted did know about the change. In those circumstances the taxpayers simply can’t afford the burden of tens of billions of pounds of compensation, but I do understand the concerns.”
No10 later said there are “no plans” to allow a Commons vote on the decision not to award compensation. But it is possible the Lib Dems will force a vote in the New Year, leaving the PM with the prospect of a sizeable rebellion from his own MPs.
