Labour and Emma Reynolds have been accused of ‘betraying’ High Wycombe’s so-called ‘Waspi’ women over their pensions.
The government this week refused to compensate 1950s-born women affected by a 1995 decision to increase their state pension age to 65.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group has campaigned for years for compensation, claiming that the government at the time did not tell them or give them enough notice.
A review by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found the government a 28-month delay in writing to the millions of women affected by the increase in their state pension age.
However, the government said it could not afford ‘tens of billions of pounds’ worth of payments, despite some senior Labour figures promising Waspi women would be compensated.
Downley parish councillor has accused the government of ‘betraying’ Waspi women for refusing to compensate and questioned whether the town’s Labour MP Emma Reynolds had ignored the concerns of some of her elderly constituents.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “What does she have to say? After all, nearly 4,000 women in High Wycombe alone are directly affected and demanding answers. Were their votes taken for granted?”
Ms Reynolds office said her party accepted the Ombudsman’s finding of ‘maladministration’ but claimed evidence showed ‘only one in four people remember reading and receiving letters that they weren’t expecting’.
She added: “By 2006, 90 per cent of 1950s-born women knew that the state pension age was changing. Earlier letters wouldn’t have affected this.”
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