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Flashback: Rayner claims WASPI pensions were ‘stolen’

Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

Come with Mr S on a trip down memory lane, to a long-forgotten era known as, er, the last parliament. Back then, Labour were all too keen to be all things to all men (and women). A prime example of that was the campaign by Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) to give compensation to women born in the 1950s who claim they were not properly informed of changes in the state pension age.

In the heat of the 2019 election campaign, Labour jumped on the WASPI band wagon. They effectively committing to signing a blank cheque worth billions by signalling their support for the campaign without doing the sums. Among those leading the charge was the-then education spokesperson Angela Rayner who told broadcasters:

The government failed the women who were born in the 1950s, they stole their pension, that contract, that agreement that they thought they had and then accelerated it so that those women didn’t have the chance to prepare for that.

Steerpike
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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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