Keir Starmer stung by Waspi women but it's least of his worries
Starmer stung by Waspi women but it's least of his worries
Keir Starmer came under fire over the Waspi women at Prime Minister's Questions
The blunt truth is it has long been highly unlikely that this government or its Conservative predecessor would pay compensation to women hit by changes to the state pension age.
The institutional failure was less egregious than the Post Office or infected blood scandals, but the potential bill for the government was colossal.
And ministers are not exactly awash with money.
The problem for Sir Keir Starmer is there was a spectacular failure of expectation management.
He can point to it not being a promise in his general election manifesto, just as it wasn't a promise in the Conservative manifesto either.
But Sir Keir's words and actions, and those of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves among others, including photos of them with the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaigners, left those campaigners with the impression that Labour was on their side.
But when it came to brass tacks, to financial compensation, they were not.
Labour in opposition could not resist sympathising with those who felt wronged by the government.
And the Waspi campaigners, quite understandably, concluded that their sympathy would mean Labour would pay up.
Accusations of hypocrisy and betrayal are once again blowing through Westminster.
