Labour MPs dumbfounded by WASPI decision – Neil Duncan-Jordan MP

“Labour MPs left feeling a real sense of anger and betrayal. Even those most loyal of Labour MPs were dumbfounded.”

By Neil Duncan-Jordan MP

If you were writing a manual about how to lose support from a core section of the voting public, you could do no worse than observe the first six months of the Labour government. The surefootedness shown during the election campaign in the summer has been replaced by a number of major policy stumbles which have drowned out any talk around the progressive legislation that has started to make its way through Parliament.

The latest bombshell was the announcement by the government not to give a penny in compensation to the women born in the 1950s who saw their state pension age rise without due notice, despite an acceptance by ministers that maladministration had taken place. Not only does this undermine the role of the Ombudsman who carried out a six-year long inquiry into the issue – only to be ignored – but it also seriously undermines the public’s trust in politicians who campaign for one thing in opposition – only to find the reverse gear in office. Lots of Labour MPs filed into the chamber to hear the announcement, thinking it would be a bit of pre-Christmas cheer – but left feeling a real sense of anger and betrayal. Even those most loyal of Labour MPs were dumbfounded.

One of the government’s arguments seems to rest on the number of older women who actually knew their state pension age was changing – and that it would therefore be unfair to offer these individuals any kind of pay out. Equally, the cost of administering a scheme to find those genuine cases is said to be too costly. But the claim that the change of date did not have any adverse financial impact on this group of women is utterly ridiculous, as is the suggestion that nothing can be done. By now, every MP in the country will have been contacted by at least one older woman who can truthly claim they did not know about the proposed change and that they have suffered as a result. To try and suggest that most people knew just doesn’t add up.

What’s perplexing though is why the Labour government seems to have such a problem when it comes to dealing with older people and their issues. The decision to means test the winter fuel payment, made just three weeks into Labour’s victory, continues to be seen as a major political error. Setting the threshold for entitlement to the payment in line with the Pension Credit implies that anyone on more than £12,000 a year is well off. This is an absolute insult to millions of older people who are struggling to get by and putting on extra blankets, only heating one room or visiting their local library to keep warm. The poorest in our society are those who are eligible, but don’t claim or are just a few pounds over the threshold and miss out on a number of passported benefits. Promising them a higher state pension in April doesn’t pay the gas bill in December.

What’s also striking is that the party seems to have lost its collective understanding as to the benefits of universalism. Means testing, by its very nature is ineffective at getting help to those who need it most because those are the ones who simply don’t claim. On top of that a means tested benefit can be up to ten times as expensive to administer as a universal payment. Of course, there is a concern that millionaire pensioners are using their £300 allowance to buy cases of claret – but that’s the reason why Labour needs to be bolder on the issue of taxation, not harder on the poor. The latest figures suggest that there are still around 800,000 eligible pensioners who haven’t made a claim – and as a result of the change – will now also miss out on the winter fuel payment.

We have heard the government say that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the heaviest burden, but at the moment those individuals have got the rest of us doing the heavy lifting. Nearly three quarters of the British public would be in favour of higher taxes on the super-rich and even 65% of millionaires would back a 2% wealth tax on assets over £10m. Our reluctance to do this inevitably means we have to look elsewhere – and this leads to some very difficult and unpopular measures.

The rules around increases to National Insurance and the impact on charities, hospices and care providers will certainly undermine the sector’s ability to provide the sort of services on which many families increasingly rely – as the third sector has filled the void left by hollowed out public sector provision. Often these services find themselves funded by government departments to do what is effectively the role of the state. The refusal to adapt this policy in light of these unintended consequences raises very serious concerns about the government’s political compass and the lack of joined up thinking.

This is all the more disappointing given some of the ground-breaking announcements that have been made on areas such as employment rights, rent reforms, measures to tackle pollution in our rivers and the return of railways to public ownership.

These are the stuff of Labour governments that want to win elections. Of course, these policies need to be funded, and the gaping hole in the finances left by the Conservatives has to be addressed, but raising money off the backs of pensioners living on less than minimum wage doesn’t sound like a fair distribution of pain.

Rediscovering the value of universalism, having a plan to make society more equal and renewing a commitment to a fair taxation system would not only help to rebuild our welfare state and public services, but also put Labour firmly on the road to a second term.

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• Neil Duncan-Jordan is the Labour MP for Poole. You can follow him on Twitter/X and on Facebook. 
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