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A major update over WASPI women's fight for £2,950 payouts from the Department for Work and Pensions has emerged. Independent MP Brian Leishman, who was suspended from the Labour Party in July 2025, warned the Government about the public "anger" over the injustice. Mr Leishman urged: "What I hear from people on the doorstep and when I am out campaigning is anger at things like the two-child benefit cap, Winter Fuel [Payments], the treatment of the WASPI women, and welfare cuts. "When will the leadership appreciate that the people impacted by those things are our people—our class? Instead of chasing disaffected Tory right-wing votes, what about looking after our core vote?" READ MORE Older drivers face new roadside test in England and could have licence revoked Last March, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman recommended compensation should be paid to women born in the 1950s whose pensionable age was gradually raised to be equal with men, arguing the changes had not been properly communicated to them. In December, the government announced there would be no compensation for this group. A DWP spokesperson said previously about the judicial review: "We do not comment on live litigation. We accept the Ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and have apologised for there being a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women. "However, we do not agree with the Ombudsman’s approach to injustice or remedy and that is why we have decided not to pay compensation." A government spokesperson said: “We accept the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and have apologised for there being a 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women. “However, evidence showed only one in four people remember reading and receiving letters that they weren’t expecting and that by 2006 90% of 1950s-born women knew that the state pension age was changing. “Earlier letters wouldn’t have affected this. For these and other reasons the government cannot justify paying for a £10.5bn compensation scheme at the expense of the taxpayer.”
