Compensating Waspi women would ‘burden’ the taxpayer, Sir Keir Starmer says
Sir Keir Starmer has defended a decision not to compensate women affected by changes to their retirement age – saying doing so would “burden” the taxpayer.
The prime minister said he understood the concerns of the Women Against State Pension Inequality – often known as Waspi women – but their demands were not affordable.
He was speaking after Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall issued an apology for a 28-month delay in sending out letters to those born in the 1950s impacted by state pension changes.
However, she said she doesn’t accept that compensation should be paid.
Follow politics latest: Reaction to Waspi decision
Ms Kendall said the “great majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing” and that a state-funded pay-out wouldn’t be “fair or value for taxpayers’ money'”.
The announcement was branded a “day of shame” by the Liberal Democrats, who accused the Labour government of “turning its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged”.
In the mid-1990s, the government passed a law to raise the retirement age for women over a 10-year period to make it equal with men.
The coalition government then sped up the timetable as part of its cost-cutting measures.
The Waspi group say millions suffered financially as they were not given sufficient warning to prepare for the later retirement age.
Earlier this year, an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) found that thousands of women may have been adversely impacted by failures to adequately inform people of the change.
The watchdog suggested that women should receive compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 – but the findings were not legally binding.
Read More:
What is a Waspi woman and what happened to them?
Ms Kendall said paying that would have cost up to £10.5 billion, which is not “fair or proportionate”.
She also said she did not agree that sending letters earlier would have made a difference, saying research given to the Ombudsman showed “only around a quarter of people who are sent unsolicited letters actually remember receiving them or reading them“.
However she did accept there was maladministration in communicating the changes and vowed to “learn all the lessons” so it did not happen again.
Speaking later to journalists, Ms Kendall said “real and concrete actions” were coming out of the report, including a “detailed action plan to make sure those sorts of delays never happen again”.
Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Sir Keir said: “I do understand, of course, the concern of the Waspi women. But also I have to take into account whether it’s right at the moment to impose a further burden on the taxpayer, which is what it would be.”
The Waspi campaign group hit out at the decision on X, reminding Ms Kendall that she had previously called for a “fair solution for all affected”.
Women protest against changes in the state pension
Angela Madden, chairwoman of Waspi, said refusing to compensate them was a “bizarre and totally unjustified move”.
She added: “An overwhelming majority of MPs back Waspi’s calls for fair compensation and all options remain on the table. Parliament must now seek an alternative mechanism to force this issue on to the order paper so justice can be done.”
This may be as big a political blunder as chancellor’s winter fuel cut
When Liz Kendall declared in the Commons there’ll be no compensation for the so-called WASPI women, there were shouts of “shame!” from MPs.
And no wonder. Could this be as big a political blunder as Rachel Reeves axing winter fuel payments for pensioners? Potentially, yes, given the furious backlash already.
Yes, compensation was promised by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell in the run-up to the December 2019 general election.
Mr McDonnell promised a £58 billion compensation scheme designed to end a “historic injustice” and said a “debt of honour” was owed to women born in the 1950s.
And yes, Sir Keir Starmer fought this year’s election as a changed Labour Party. And no, there was no repeat of the Corbyn-McDonnell pledge in this year’s election manifesto.
But as recently as 2022 the prime minister told a caller in a radio phone-in: “This is a real injustice. We need to something about it.”
In 2019, when she was in Mr Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, Angela Rayner said the Tory government “stole this money” from women born in the 1950s and Labour would “right that injustice”.
But not only that, Liz Kendall herself attended a WASPI campaign event in 2019 and said: “This injustice can’t go on. I have been a longstanding supporter of the WASPI campaign…”
No surprise then, that many of Labour’s newly-elected MPs now feel betrayed. “It feels a bit like we assembled this enormous coalition at the election and now we’re just intent to taking an axe to it piece by piece,” one new Labour MP told Sky News.
If it was an injustice in 2019 and in 2022, surely it’s still an injustice? Should other groups battling against injustice – like sub-postmasters and infected blood victims – be worried now?
Labour MPs were among those who criticised the decision in the House of Commons.
Gareth Snell, for Stoke-on-Trent Central, said today was a “sad moment” and asked the government to re-think its position if the economy improves.
Brian Leishman, for Alloa and Grangemouth, said he was “appalled” at the refusal to compensate the women, calling it “an incredible let down”.
Business
Victims of Post Office Capture accounting software scandal ‘to be offered compensation’ – minister
The government will offer compensation to Post Office Capture victims – while refusing to rule out blanket exoneration for those convicted.
In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said his department is “working at pace” and is committed to providing redress as quickly as possible.
Capture accounting software, which predates the scandal-hit Horizon IT system, was used by sub-postmasters in their branches between 1992 and 1999.
Under Horizon, hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015.
Earlier this year the government-commissioned Kroll report found there was a “reasonable likelihood” that Capture caused accounting losses and errors, although the report did not make any conclusions about the safety of criminal convictions.
A number of sub-postmasters were convicted of theft and false accounting while using the Capture IT system in the 1990s.
Gareth Thomas said ministers are going to offer redress to victims
“This is the first time the government has confirmed it is going to offer redress,” Gareth Thomas told Sky News.
“We recognise that there were significant problems for some sub-postmasters, at least some of whom used the Capture software, and had real difficulties in their branches.
“We’re now going to work at pace across government, and with the Post Office and sub-postmasters directly, to try to understand how many people were affected and how we can offer redress most effectively going forward.”
He insisted that once as much information as possible had been received from the Post Office the government would “be able to work through on a [redress] scheme”.
When asked repeatedly, however, if “blanket exoneration” was off the table, Mr Thomas refused to directly answer.
He said instead that the “first stage” was to “work with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)”.
Protesters outside the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry. Pic: PA
Mr Thomas added: “It’s the reason why we’ve asked the Post Office to go through all its records just to try and help us understand firstly how many people were affected in total by using Capture software, how many people saw problems in their branch, and also to try to understand how many people were then convicted.”
“That’s got to be the first stage,” he continued. “We’re working at pace and expect the Post Office to be working at a pace to make those judgements.
“And we will get that information to CCRC as soon as we can – and we’ll make a judgement from that.”
Hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted of stealing because of faults in the Horizon system, introduced after Capture, were exonerated through legislation earlier this year.
Sky News has previously revealed that the CCRC is looking into a number of Capture cases but said that the older the case, the more difficult it could be to determine.
Mr Thomas admitted he was also “worried about the level of information” available “given the length of time since Capture was used”.
He emphasised the Post Office had been instructed “as a matter of urgency” to look into its records and pass on as much information as possible.
The minister also insisted that the government has “a responsibility to work as fast as we can… and we are determined to do that”.
On potential redress schemes, the minister also said the government has learned from past mistakes on compensation.
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File pic: Reuters
Mr Thomas said some Horizon sub-postmasters had not been involved “early enough” in the process previously.
“That’s certainly something we don’t want to happen this time round,” he said.
“I’m now actively talking to sub-postmasters and legal representatives so that we can get redress offered ultimately as quickly as is feasible.”
Daniel Kretinsky is becoming the new man in charge of the Royal Mail.
The takeover of Royal Mail by his EP Group has been approved.
The board of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), announced in May it had agreed to a takeover of the postal service by EP Group, which had valued the firm at £5.3bn.
But who is Mr Kretinsky and what is his background?
The 48-year-old is ranked 33rd on The Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated net worth of £6bn – up £2bn since 2023.
Low profile
He is known as the “Czech Sphinx” – a reference to the mysterious mythical creature – reportedly due to his enigmatic nature and reluctance to speak about his investments in public.
Mr Kretinsky is known for keeping a low profile and rarely gives interviews, but is said to be a keen Anglophile.
Czech journalist Michael Mares once described him to the New York Times as someone who “you can actually meet downtown, or see driving his [Porsche] Panamera… he lives here, but he’s not someone who will be in a paper”.
The billionaire reportedly holds a 40% share in Sparta Prague, pictured here in action against Liverpool earlier this year. Pic: Reuters
What is his background?
Mr Kretinsky was born into a high-achieving family in the Czech city of Brno. His mother was a top judge, while his father was a doctor of computer science.
After graduating with a degree in political science, he worked as a lawyer before joining investment group J&T Finance Group in 1999.
He quickly rose up its ranks to become a partner in 2003, before making his first significant investment a year later in Czech football team Sparta Prague.
Mr Kretinsky is now the co-owner of his boyhood club and reportedly holds a 40% share.
Daniel Kretinsky, second from right, watches West Ham’s European Conference League final victory over Fiorentina last year. Pic: AP
What are his other investments?
The billionaire made much of his fortune from energy and fossil-fuel investments, but has a variety of business interests in countries spanning his home nation, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, the Netherlands and the UK.
They include Eustream, which moves Russian gas via pipelines running through Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and sportswear retailer Footlocker.
Read more: Many are mystified why a Czech billionaire wants to buy Royal Mail’s owner
In 2009, he became heavily involved in the founding of J&T’s energy investment company EPH. He is the current chairman and majority shareholder of the now multi-billion pound company, which is part of a network of linked firms.
In 2018, he snapped up a 49% stake in French Newspaper Le Monde, followed by a 3.05% stake in Sainsbury’s two years later – becoming its fourth-largest shareholder.
He later raised his investment in the supermarket chain to nearly 10%.
Mr Kretinsky made another splash into the UK market in 2021 when he bought a 27% stake in West Ham United football club – a deal worth £150m which was first revealed by Sky News.
His EP Group already owns 27.6% of the Royal Mail.
Mr Kretinsky’s villa in Prague. Pic: AP
What does he spend his money on?
Mr Kretinsky owns a 15-bedroom house in London’s Bishop Avenue – known as billionaire’s row – which he bought for £65m in 2015 and once rented to pop star Justin Bieber for a reputed £25,000 a week.
He also spent €21.5m (£18.3m) buying a Parisian townhouse down the road from the Elysee Palace from Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
The billionaire also owns a 25% share of the Velaa exclusive private island resort in the Maldives.
He lives near his office in Prague and has been redeveloping a property near Sparta’s ground known as Villa Kapsa, which was formerly the Iranian embassy.
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