Wales Green Party supports Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) demonstration

Wales Green Party will be supporting WASPI Pembrokeshire today, 9th September, when representatives will meet Stephen Crabb MP to discuss changes made to the Women State Pension age. There will be a demonstration outside of the meeting which will include speeches from Wales Green Party's Frances Bryant and Jim Scott.

The state pension age for women was raised to 65 without fair warning, and as such some women are finding that their financial plans have been ruined. The Wales Green Party supports WASPI’s assertion that there should be provision made for transitional payments to bridge the gap for women who in some cases have had as little as two years notice that their pensions will be delayed by up to six years.

The demonstration is targeted at Stephen Crabb who, while Work and Pensions Secretary, said that women should not expect the government to intervene, and that it would be impossible to unwind changes dating back more than 20 years.

Hannah Pudner, Deputy Leader of the Wales Green Party said: “This is not a campaign to move away from a single state pension age, it’s a campaign to help those women who have been most affected by this change. Nobody should be in the position where they’ve planned for one specific scenario for the majority of their lives, only to have the rug pulled from under them and to discover that their planning was in vain, as the government has changed the pensionable age for women without fair notice.”

Speaking at the demonstration, Frances Bryant, past Wales Green Party candidate for Preseli Pembrokshire, said “Nobody disputes that there should be pension parity between the sexes, but the rapid introduction of this policy combined with lack of information to the women concerned has led to immense hardship and huge financial loss. It is disgraceful to treat women in this cavalier way, and the Green Party stands with WASPI in its very reasonable request for fair transitional payments to those women who have been so adversely affected.”

Jim Scott of Pembrokeshire People’s Assembly added “The situation women are facing with sudden pension changes is typical of the current Tory Government, and Crabb, as always, is in full support of these bungled changes. The Tories’ ‘slash and burn’ austerity economics have left thousands of women in a situation where they have no time to plan for changes to their pensions that will see them thousands of pounds worse off for many years. This week we have also seen a National week of action around Britain from DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) who have also been devastated by brutal Tory welfare cuts. We are here today to show Crabb and his Government that we will stick together on issues like these and that we can and we will fight back against such ideological policies.”