One of the things wrong with Britain is our inability to say no to campaign groups once they win a hearing on the One Show. One rare exception to that has been Starmer’s cabinet standing up to Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) – the least deserving compensation group in the history of these isles.
At the beginning of this year, Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden recommitted the government to the decision to refuse compensation to the 3.6 million women born in the 1950s who claimed not to have been informed that their state pension age would rise to bring it into line with the male retirement age. McFadden was right to make that decision because the claim is beyond baseless.
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Are we allowed to feel angry yet?
That decision was one of the few genuinely excellent ones from this government because it would have meant more than £10 billion of public funds going to people who do not deserve it. The trouble was that the presumptive next prime minister, Andy Burnham, seemed to have decided to reignite the debate.
