Angry scenes as WASPI pension injustice row flares in South Tyneside with Labour 'betrayal' slammed
South Tyneside councillors have clashed during a debate on the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign, with criticism levelled at the Labour Government.
The WASPI campaign was the focus of part of South Tyneside Council’s full council meeting on Thursday (July 24, 2025), following a motion launched by the local authority’s opposition ‘South Tyneside Alliance Group’ (STAG).
The campaign has focused on those affected by the state pension age increase for women, which was brought in through several changes to the Pensions Act, eventually raising the state pension age to 66.
Campaigners said a number of women had been unfairly treated, with many saying they were unaware of the changes, and the campaign has been calling for compensation payments for those affected.
The campaign also falls against the backdrop of a previous Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman ruling, which found there had been “maladministration” by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) around its communication about state pension age.
Although compensation payouts were recommended by the ombudsman, the new Labour Government decided not to uphold them, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer previously saying he had to take into account whether it was right “to impose a further burden on the taxpayer.”
The previous motion said the changes to state pension age had a “profound effect” on thousands of women, with many left in poverty, and key pledges included the council “outlining the effects of the injustice to 1950s women on the communities in South Tyneside” and seeking support for an “immediate compensation package.”
Following the Labour Party coming to power after the 2024 General Election, it was announced in December, 2024, that WASPI women would not be compensated, sparking anger from campaigners and criticism from some Labour MPs.
At the latest full meeting of South Tyneside Council this week (July 24, 2025), the local authority’s opposition STAG councillors launched a fresh motion on the issue with several asks for the council’s Labour Group.
This included the leader of the council writing to local MPs and the Secretary of State Liz Kendall “to outline the effects of the injustice to 1950s women in the communities of South Tyneside” and for a national “compensation scheme”, in line with ombudsman recommendations, to be “urgently brought forward”.
The opposition motion also called on the Government for an “urgent debate and vote […] on delivering compensation to affected women” and to ask South Tyneside Council’s leader to write to the Prime Minister “outlining the council’s position and calling for swift necessary action to resolve this situation”.
This included a call for action to “deliver all that the Prime Minister and many other Labour politicians promised to WASPI campaigners.”
Councillor David Kennedy, leader of the STAG group, outlined the WASPI motion to full council and said the issues affect 11,000 people in the South Tyneside local authority area, and around 65,000 people in the North East.
Cllr Kennedy said the motion was “written in conjunction with the WASPI women”, with many campaigners observing the debate in the public gallery at South Shields Town Hall.
However, the council’s Labour Group lodged a bid to amend the motion, which Cllr Kennedy said campaigners did not agree with and would “take away what they have asked us to do”.
“They are not happy with any amendment and I think that any amendment submitted at this point in time will be an insult to these women,” he added.
Independent councillor and STAG member, Kate Owens-Palmer, set out examples of the “life-changing” sums of money WASPI women had lost through pension changes and said “this Government has ignored the orders of the ombudsman and has been sitting on its hands for far too long.”
Meanwhile, STAG group member councillor Karen Myers called the Labour Government’s decision to not award compensation to WASPI women as a “betrayal”, and noted campaigners “won’t face justice until Labour is removed from power, or the High Court forces them to act.”
Councillor John Robertson, of ‘The REAL Independent Councillors’ group, noted Labour councillors’ previous “photo opportunities” with WASPI campaigners during the period of the Conservative Government, and for making “excuses” since the Labour Party came to power nationally.
“It’s the same old story, use them for photo opportunities, give them all the promises and then when the tables turn, all the excuses under the sun,” he said.
Cllr Robertson, who was later asked to leave the meeting by the Mayor of South Tyneside for interjecting during a Labour councillor’s speech, did not end up participating in a vote on the motion.
Councillor Joan Hamilton, also a member of The REAL Independent Councillors group, said she was a WASPI woman and that changes were not “widely broadcast and slipped in under the radar”.
“There were a lot of women who retired at that time thinking they were going to get their pension and they didn’t get it, and I was one of them,” she said.
Labour councillor and deputy council leader Jane Carter, who introduced herself as a WASPI woman “directly affected by these issues”, moved an amendment to the STAG motion.
Cllr Carter said the proposed amendment “did not change the spirit of the motion” and that the “general direction and purpose of it aligns with the previous motion already passed in 2023”.
“As such I’m confident that the majority of this chamber, if not the entire chamber, are supportive of appropriate and just compensation for WASPI women, which we’re on the same page,” she said.
The deputy council leader added the amendment sought to “clarify a few points” around the DWP’s previous maladministration and to add “additional context”, including around “the DWP’s delay in sending letters”.
The amendment still included the council writing to “relevant MPs” and the Prime Minister to “outline the impacts of injustice and the impacts that this has had on WASPI women, not just in South Tyneside, but across the country.”
Labour councillor Ruth Berkley, seconding the amendment, also said she was a WASPI woman.
While noting the national Labour Government was in a “difficult financial position having inherited economic chaos”, she said “that does not mean that compensation should not be made in the interests of fairness”, adding that the Government should “revisit” previous decisions around compensation for WASPI women.
Cllr Berkley added unanimous approval for the Labour amendment would be “a great example of what South Tyneside Council can achieve when we come together, collaborate to work out the details and support the people of South Tyneside.”
Councillor David Francis, leader of the council’s Green Group, said the Labour amendment’s bid to remove the line “many women have been left in financial hardship as a result of failings by the DWP, which the current Government has not yet recognised”, did not make it “any less true”.
The Green Party councillor also noted that the amendment’s removal of reference to the Prime Minister’s and other Labour politicians’ previous “promises [to] WASPI campaigners”, represented the council “failing to hold the Government to account on its own promises”.
“Failing to support this unamended motion is failing women in our communities and beyond, I would urge all colleagues to support the motion unamended tonight, Cllr Francis added.
After being put to the vote, the Labour amendment was agreed by a majority of councillors with 24 votes in favour and 21 votes against.