personal finance

Pension row ERUPTS: Labour £58bn vow to WASPIs TORN APART – it's NOT in 'costed' manifesto


Shadow Housing Minister Sarah Jones spoke to BBC’s Jo Coburn on Politics Live about the Labour Party’s new state pension policy for the WASPI movement. WASPIs are women born in the 1950s who missed the pension payments when the retirement age increased. Labour estimate that the policy will cost them £58 billion over five years.

They claim the average WASPI payout would be £15,000 to the 3.7 million impacted.

However, the policy was introduced after their costed manifesto was launched, leading many to question where the money will come from.

Ms Coburn asked the MP: “£58 billion is a very big sum of money, and John McDonnell had said he was setting out everything in detail and it would all be costed. Within days, suddenly you found £58 billion, of course breaking your fiscal rule.

“If you’ve said that you’re not going to break your fiscal rules of borrowing to invest or taxing more than the top five percent, how will it be paid for?”

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The Shadow Housing Minister said: “I have been an MP for two years, but there has been a lot of conversations cross-party about what we can do to right this wrong.

“That decision has been made. Now, with our investment in the economy and the infrastructure, we are hoping the economy will start growing more than it has.

“We will have more tax, we will also have contingency funds within the Treasury. It may be that we will have to borrow for this money.”

The BBC host shot back: “You’re saying the growth in the economy under Labour will generate an extra £58 billion for you to spend?”

The Politics Live presenter went on: “We’re in a general election, and you have been proudly presenting your manifesto as being fully costed with those two strict rules.

“John McDonnell came on this programme on the day of the manifesto launch and not a word about £58 billion being found for this wrong that you want to right.

“People will want to know how you are going to fund it. Will you tax people on more modest incomes to find the money or will you borrow further to invest?”

The Labour member tried to defend her party again: “We’ve said very clearly we’re not going to tax people more than the top five percent.

“This is going to be paid over a period of five years.”



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