It has been an eventful year for a campaign group fighting against changes to the state pension age – but Furness campaigners have said they will "never give up."
In March, Barrow members of Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) – a protest group campaigning against the increase in state pension age for women – made the long journey to the Houses of Parliament.
Members Cath Williams, Pat Molyneux, Teresa Salt and Christine Taylor met Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell along with more than 60 other MPs.
The women, along with fellow protestors from other parts of the country, said they met "many supportive MPs" including Mr Fell, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
However, in September WASPI was dealt a "severe blow" after the Court of Appeal decided that governments in 1995 and 2011 were entitled to raise the women’s state pension age by several years without notice.
The court unanimously rejected the arguments of the Backto60 Campaign’s legal team that the women had been discriminated against when the law was changed so they had to work up to six more years to get their state pensions.
The justices found that there had been no discrimination and no obligation to tell the women about the changes.
Lack of adequate notice of the changes had left many women in a desperate situation.
Catherine Williams, joint co-ordinator of Barrow and District Women Against State Pension Injustice (WASPI), said: “Nationally our main push at present is to get the Chancellor to consider allowing 1950s women who are in their 60s their pension early, allowing women to give up work if they wish.
"This will not only release jobs for the millions of unemployed throughout the UK but it mean over-60s will have more cash to spend to help the economy.
“The Government continually states that the over-60s are more vulnerable to Covid, but doesn’t recognise that many, many women are having to work until they are 66.”
Ms Williams said the WASPI campaign has plans for a "bigger platform" with a "more forceful united front" in 2021.
She said: “In early 2021, WASPI Campaign 2018 has plans to evolve through the amalgamation of numerous other pension campaign groups.
"We intend to work together with other groups and show the Government a more forceful united front, while retaining individual group identity.
"This will provide a bigger platform from which to lobby Government ministers, increase our media profile and campaigning effectiveness.
"We may have suffered defeat in 2020 but we intend to prove we will never give up nor go away.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel