Chair of the Labour Party, Ian Lavery MP has expressed his Solidarity with WASPI women after a high court ruling let down millions of women effected by the pension changes which Mr Lavery called a ‘blatant and cruel injustice’.

Commenting on the High Court decision on 1950s women affected by the raising of the state pension age, Jack Dromey MP, Shadow Pensions Minister, said

“The 1950s women helped build Britain and were let down by the government’s pension changes. They will understandably be very disappointed by today’s finding.

“Labour has already made commitments to support women affected, including by extending Pension Credit to hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable women. We will consult further with the 1950s women affected as to what future support we can put in place once in government to help ensure that all these women have security and dignity in older age.”

The application to the court raised matters arising from the government policy of equalisation of the pension ages and its impact on women born in the 1950s, including the taper mechanism used to raise the State Pension Age, in combination with a failure to properly inform women of the changes.

Michael Mansfield QC, representing the women affected, said:

“They have pushed women who were already disadvantaged into the lowest class you can imagine.

“They’re on the brink of survival, and I’m not overstating that. This group – especially the percentage of the group affected born in 1953 onwards – are increasingly having taken away from them four to six years’ worth of state pension. We’re dealing with very serious sums: £37,000 to £47,000. I think any citizen would be concerned by that withdrawal.”

Mr Lavery, who has been an active supporter of the WASPI campaign since its conception said that he would continue to stand in solidarity with the women impacted by this injustice and encouraged all those who were campaigning to keep up the fight.