I’m deeply disappointed by today’s decision not to compensate WASPI women. For years, I and many of the ministers now in government stood on platforms with these women and campaigned alongside them for justice. To walk away now is a serious betrayal. It affects thousands of my own constituents, many of whom planned their lives around rules that were changed without proper notice.
This is not an isolated failure. The treatment of WASPI women fits a wider and deeply troubling pattern in the way the British state and political class deal with ordinary people. From the Horizon scandal, to infected blood, to Windrush, we see the same story repeated: delay, denial, and a lack of urgency when working people are wronged.
That pattern points to a deeper disconnect at the heart of our politics. Whether it’s housing, student debt, the cost of living, or water companies being allowed to pollute rivers while charging us more, too often the system seems to work for vested interests first, and everyone else last.
Justice for WASPI women will not come from warm words alone. It will only come when a Labour government is willing to properly re-examine who it governs for, and whose interests it is prepared to challenge. Getting this right must be part of a wider reset of our political economy, so that fairness, accountability and basic respect are no longer the exception, but the rule. To that end I will continue to work with WASPI women for justice and compensation as well as the broader set of issues raised above.