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Friday, February 7

Sarwar Ignored on WASPI by London Bosses

JamieBy 27 Views3 Mins Read Westminster

Labour Scotland Office Slaps Down Compensation Call

The SNP has said that Scottish Labourā€™s own MPs in the UK Government have shown just how ineffective Anas Sarwar and Scottish Labour are, as the Scotland Office again refused to back SNP calls for WASPI women compensation.

It comes less than 24 hours after Scottish Labour MSPs, including Anas Sarwar, backed an SNP call for the UK Government to compensate WASPI women in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday night.

In response to a question from SNP Scottish Affairs spokesperson and Arbroath MP, Stephen Gethins, Minister Kirsty McNeill slapped down her Scottish Labour leader and continued to give her support to the UK Governmentā€™s refusal to back the WASPI women.

This followed a Labour Minister rejecting Anas Sarwar’s support for the SNP Scottish Visa proposals on Monday this week.

The Labour Government faced a fierce backlash from campaigners after u-turning on a commitment to compensate the 3.6 million women impacted by the DWP’s failure to adequately inform them of state pension age changes.

In opposition, virtually every single senior Labour politician from Sir Keir Starmer to Liz Kendall committed to WASPI justice, while Scotland Secretary Ian Murray was also unequivocal in his support.

What is the point in a Labour Party that talks the talk but never walks the walk.

Again this weekĀ Anas Sarwar has been slapped down in less than 24 hours, this time by MPs he is supposed to lead –Ā Ian Murray, Kirsty McNeill and all their Labour colleagues in Westminster. Twice in the space of a week he has been slapped down by his London bosses and today showed just how ineffective and how little influence he has over his own MPs inĀ Westminster.Ā 

Last night the Scottish Parliament united behind WASPI women as parties across the chamber, including Scottish Labour, backed SNP calls for compensation, yet in the Chamber today Labourā€™s MPS in the Scotland Office chose to back theirĀ Labour Prime Minister over their own Scottish Labour Leader.

Labour politicians lined up behind WASPI placards and pledges, only to sit in their hands when they could actually do something about it when they came into power. It comes in a long line of broken Labour promises with cuts to the winter fuel payments for our pensioners, rising energy bills and Labourā€™s support for the cruel two child cap.

The SNP will continue to seek every avenue to force fair and fast compensation for the Waspi women and weā€™ll continue to hold the UK Labour Government to account on all the promises it has made.

STEPHEN GETHINS MP

Iā€™m Graemeā€™s Parliamentary Assistant based at Holyrood, but I support his constituency work as well. Having been Caseworker to an Aberdeenshire MP some years prior, joining Graeme's team in 2019 was a return to this line of work from a role in fundraising.

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