Tim Loughton MP (East Worthing and Shoreham) has joined colleagues from across the House of Commons to form a new Parliamentary group on the State Pension Age. The new group will support those women hit by the acceleration of the equalisation of the State Pension Age, first in 1995 and then in 2011.
Tim has been heavily involved in the campaign and met the Work and Pensions Secretary, the Rt Hon Stephen Crabb MP, last week. Tim also met the current Secretary of State’s predecessor, the Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, before he left his post to discuss this issue. Tim has produced a couple of podcasts on the issue, which have attracted a great deal of attention and can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/user/loughtont.
In East Worthing and Shoreham according to the independent House of Commons Library, around 4,200 women are directly affected by the 2011 Pensions Act alone 453 local residents signed the e-petition calling for transitional arrangements, which received almost 200,000 signatures nationwide.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign works to lobby the Government to introduce transitional arrangements for those women affected, many of whom were not notified about the changes, and took early retirement, leaving them without any income.
The Parliamentary Group, which was launched at the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday 11May at a standing room only meeting, will be co-chaired by MPs from each of the parties, and will work closely with the WASPI campaign.
The All-Party Group will seek to work with the new Work and Pensions Secretary, Stephen Crabb, to introduce transitional arrangements.
Speaking at the launch of the new campaign group, Tim said:
“We are not seeking to apportion blame to anybody. We simply want to get the best outcome for these women, many of whom have worked hard for decades without taking a penny out of the system.
“We need to send out a strong message to the WASPI women that there has been a disproportionate effect from perfectly well intentioned changes to the pension age. Whilst nobody is disagreeing with the equalisation of the pensionable age, there is a deal to be done, a compromise to be reached and common sense that needs to break out.
“In all my time in the House of Commons, I have never known a debate on the same subject to happen so many times in such a short space of time. Clearly MPs from all sides of the House are becoming aware of just how many women are going to be adversely affected by these changes.
“I am therefore proud to have been elected co-chair, as well as a founding member, of this new Parliamentary campaign group. This is an issue that has attracted cross-party support, including a very strong turnout from over 40 Conservative members.
“We now have the weight of numbers to make a difference if the Government’s position remains entrenched and 2.4m WASPI women are not going to go away. In fact they will be coming to us in parliament on 29 June together with their choir and campaign song.
“I hope that the new Work and Pensions Secretary will be receptive to our concerns, and that we will soon have the equitable outcome that the WASPI women deserve. This issue is not going away.”