The Scottish National Party (SNP) is looking to place Labour divisions in the spotlight this afternoon by forcing a vote on compensation for women who lost out financially from the rise in the state pension age.
On 17 December, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall told the House of Commons that paying up to £10.5 billion in compensation to the Waspi women would not be a “fair or proportionate use” of taxpayers’ money. The last government, she added, had not left “a single penny” aside for such measures.
Labour, however, supported the Waspi (women against state pension inequality) cause in opposition. Keir Starmer, now the prime minister, once referred to the treatment of those 1950s-born individuals hit by major changes to the state pension age as a “huge injustice”. But while Kendall accepted there had been “maladministration” in the failure to properly notify women of the changes, she rejected the parliamentary ombudsman’s recommendation of compensation.
The SNP reacted furiously at the time, and pledged to hold Labour to account. Crucially, several Labour MPs also expressed their consternation — both privately and publicly. Speaking in the commons late last year, Labour’s Brian Leishman said he was “appalled” by the decision.
“Waspi women certainly do not need words of disappointment and hollow statements. What they need is justice”, he insisted.
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Responding to Kendall’s commons statement, several usually supportive Labour MPs asked the government for “reassurances”; and at least two (Gareth Snell and Melanie Onn) called on the government to “reconsider” the decision in the future, when the fiscal position improves. Others asked for a narrower compensation scheme than that recommended by the ombudsmen. Kendall could offer no solace.
And lo, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn is set to introduce a 10-minute rule bill that would require the government to publish proposals for a compensation scheme. According to reports overnight, he even hopes to force a vote — putting maximum pressure on conflicted Labour MPs. (That said, the House only divides on a 10-minute rule bill at first reading if an MP delivers a speech, in response, objecting to the proposed legislation. Some chicanery could therefore be necessary on Flynn’s part).
Significantly, Flynn’s bill comes just weeks after the Scottish parliament voted to demand the UK government provides Waspi compensation. In the vote, every single party backed the Scottish government motion — including all SNP, Conservative, Labour, Green and Lib Dem MSPs.
And so the SNP’s Westminster outriders are now piling pressure on Scottish Labour MPs to vote the same way as their Holyrood counterparts. Leishman, the Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, has already said he will be backing the bill. “I’ll be voting for justice for the Waspi women. We stood in solidarity with the women while in opposition and we should do the same in government”, he told LabourList.
This episode is another manifestation of the prevailing SNP-Labour dynamic this parliament. The SNP’s Westminster sect, reduced to a lowly 9 last July (from 48 in 2019), is challenging Labour on progressive issues at every turn — in a bid to drive a wedge between the UK government and the party’s Scottish MPs.
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In this vein, the SNP has already expressed strident objections to the government’s decision not to scrap the two-child benefit cap and, separately, its winter fuel allowance cut. Seven left-wing Labour MPs were suspended from the party after voting for an SNP amendment on the former issue in July. On the latter, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar vowed last year to expand the winter fuel payment if he is elected first minister following the May 2026 Holyrood election.
Unfortunately for Sarwar, the UK government’s woes at present mean this eventuality is looking less and less likely. One poll published earlier this month shows the SNP is on course to return 53 MSPs in the 2026 Holyrood election, compared to 24 for Scottish Labour. (24 is only two more than Labour won in the 2021 election, which was its worst-ever Holyrood result). The finding, polling guru Sir John Curtice said, reflects “voters’ disappointment” with the UK government’s performance.
So far this parliament, the SNP has found significant success in, (1), exposing nascent ideological tensions within the Labour Party; and, (2), capitalising on progressive disaffection with the UK government electorally — according to opinion polling.
On the general election campaign trail last year, Keir Starmer would often insist that the road to a Labour government “runs” through Scotland. Today, the prime minister — though it receives less treatment than other frontlines — is losing ground across his progressive, tartan flank.
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