Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker, tells Waspis "Parliament is out of control" but he has a plan

It's been a while since I last wrote anything, but today was as good a day as any to make a comeback with a subject that is close to my heart!

I have just returned home from attending a meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker, and a number of my fellow Waspi 2018 colleagues and friends.

In 2017, we had a similar meeting with Lindsay at which he pledged to support the Waspi cause and suggested that if the Government wanted to help, all they needed to do was add a penny or two to the cost of fuel and the problem could be solved. He also suggested that a change of Government would help to speed up the resolution process. 

So, five years on and given the current "cost of living crisis" affecting the country, we were interested to find out if Lindsay, now in his role as Speaker of the House of Commons, would have anything further to add to his previous statements, or be able to give us some words of advice going forwards. 

None of us were prepared for what he had to say! According to Lindsay, Parliament is out of control! 

These are not his exact words but the gist of what he told us is that he finds the current situation in Parliament "scary" with a bunch of loose cannons on the take, for the benefit of themselves and their friends, with not so much as a thought for the problems the country is facing. He says that there is currently a state of paralysis because of the Tory party leadership votes and there is no money left in the coffers to pay for any form of social assistance.

So, if Parliament is out of control, what possible chance is there of any kind of resolution for the Waspis, and more to the point, I have to ask myself, if he can't control them as Speaker, then who can?

We did digress, when he was asked how, if we have no money, we can somehow support Ukraine with billions of pounds worth of ammunition, and he pointed out that all we are actually doing is taking our existing munitions off the shelves and throwing it at them. At some time there will come a point where we have no ammo left and no money left to replace it!   

In spite of this being one of the most depressing sessions I have attended with Sir Lindsay, he did offer us one glimmer of hope and the seed of a plan based on his previously recorded suggestion of a possible change of Government, which, according to him, may come sooner rather than later, given the current shambles.

His suggestion is that the signing of The Pledge is not in itself, enough. Anyone can pledge their support for our Cause but this does not mean necessarily that they will do anything about it even if they get into power.

What is needed from the current opposition, who will be looking for our votes to get into power, is a statement of intent as to exactly how they would ringfence sufficient funds to be able to make fair and fast payments to all of those affected. This would then behold them to come good with their pledges as they would have a plan to solve the problem rather than just the will to support us. 

They would have to come up with a new source of income from which to pay us our compensation, whether this be a few pence on income tax or a windfall tax on the energy companies, ringfenced for the Waspis, but one that is a definite plan of action to take immediately they get into power.

Only by making this happen, will the Waspis stand any chance of receiving any compensation for our losses. 

So, as of now, we need to start to meet with those at the top to ask them to put in their manifestos a specific clause and plan to help resolve the Waspi situation...and the sooner the better!    

  

 

 

      

WASPIs - Not going away in 2018

When a small contingent of Chorley WASPI supporters met with our local MP in March 2017, whilst fully supportive of our cause, he warned us that nothing would happen to resolve our issues unless there was a General Election and that was, according to Mrs Maybe, not on the cards. A bleak, but not disparaging opinion from the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle MP and I don't think even he could have have imagined just how soon the GE2017 snap election would occur, if at all!

Why a General Election? Because he was of the opinion that for Mrs Mayhem and her cronies, my words, not his, a declaration by them of support for the WASPI ladies could be a potential vote winner and may well be a significant part of the Tory manifesto. To date, so far as I am aware, this has not been the case and we are still being ignored by the majority of Tory MPs.

On the other hand, however, the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn MP, has publicly stated that, Labour will listen to our voices and make every effort to help us to win back what is rightfully ours - our pensions.

As it happened, Labour did not win the GE2017,  not least because of the deliberate twisting of words by the establishment controlled media, who sought  to sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of those of lesser intelligence with a view to swaying them into tactical voting, or into bringing back the worst Conservative government for generations. This has led to more austerity, more cuts to public services, a death knell for the NHS, the rise of a brutal regime and many, many deaths of innocent people in our country, young and old.

Are we living in a Democracy or a Dictatorship? I, for one, for the first time in my life, voted Labour because I sincerely believed, and still do, that they can redress the balance and bring about a fairer society.

But, the worst case scenario played out and the Tories remained in power.  Where does that  leave the WASPI women in 2018?

Assuming that there is nothing on the table for us and they still won't listen to us, then we will have to see them in Court. Bindmans, our lawyers, are preparing a case against the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) for maladministration over their failure to notify us of changes to our State Pension Age. They have a good case, but will need our help to achieve a satisfactory outcome and the most important elements in any court situation are evidence and money. Without evidence there is no case to defend and without money there can be no trial.

WASPI ladies have been portrayed by certain parts of the media as greedy, money grabbing, banner raising, flag waving old ladies with nothing better to do, but that is far from true. There are 3.8 million of us and some of us have been quietly playing our part and gathering the very important evidence that will help Bindmans fight a successful case.

But....and there is a BUT....I don't believe that ANY government will be in a position to replace our stolen pensions in full and hand it to us on a silver platter! It would cost too much and even we WASPIs are supportive of equalisation with men for our State Pension Age. 

My best guess it that IF any arrangements are agreed in principal then it will not be a "free for all" solution. It could be a case of "first come..first served". There will probably be restrictions and qualifications for everyone and it will be up to us to make individual claims for compensation. We will need to prove that we are deserving of any money we are claiming and that we have taken reasonable steps to highlight our individual circumstances and attempted to seek resolution ourselves, which brings me back to "evidence". We will need to show evidence of individually pro-actively seeking redress.

This is why it is important that ALL women affected by the changes in legislation who wish to be adequately compensated should as of now be writing to the DWP, stating their cases and requesting the same. I really do think that it will be a case of "if you don't ask, you won't receive".

This is why the WASPI movement is so important. The WASPI website at waspi.co.uk has a wealth of information and guidance that is publicly available on how best to approach the DWP with template letters that anyone with access to a computer can do for themselves.

It can be soul-destroying and disheartening to feel that you are trying to take on the world by yourself. This is why joining WASPI and becoming a member of your local group is so important. We are here to help you take on the establishment by giving you guidance and practical assistance in preparing your letters which, after all, could be the key to unlocking your individual pensions, or part of, sooner rather than later.

Also, by signing up as a paid up member of WASPI, even if you do nothing else, your money will help to pay for the Court action.

Please don't wait for other people to do what you know you should do for yourself. Don't sit back and expect positive results without being prepared to take personal action. JOIN US and be part of our campaign. Make new friends and gain the support you need to secure your future. Join us at  http://waspi.co.uk/membership and find your local WASPI Group by searching the Directory which is available at http://waspi.co.uk/local-groups 

   

    

Photo credits: Reportuk.org, Enprotothema.gr, Article.wn.com, BoltonLabourHultonWard.co.uk