Pay-outs of up to £31,000 will be made to compensate women who have been hit by unfair pension changes introduced by the Tories and Libdems, with an average payment of £15,000, Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell has announced.

The scheme will be delivered within Labour’s first full five year term of government. Payments will go to women born in the 1950s who had their state pension age hiked.

McDonnell said the pay-outs were a “historic debt of honour” to the women.

David Cameron’s coalition government presided over a change in the law that increased the women’s state pension age to 65 in November 2018 – followed by 66 in October 2020.

Labour would introduce a compensation scheme for the women hit by the changes, which Cameron’s Tory-Lib Dem government imposed in 2011. This would benefit 300,000 women in Scotland, including around 7,000 in East Lothian.

It comes after Boris Johnson u-turned on Friday on his pledge to help those affected.

Scottish Labour candidate Martin Whitfield said:

“Labour’s plans will make a real difference to the lives of women in East Lothian and compensate them for a historical wrong.

“It’s one that they were not been able to prepare for and for which they’ve had to suffer serious financial consequences for as a result.

“Some of them have been hit by a combination of poverty and stress, having lost out on what they had contributed towards.

“These changes were imposed upon them by a Tory-led government. This shows what a Labour Government can do for this area. If elected as MP for East Lothian I would proudly support this policy alongside all of Labour’s other transformative plans that will be of benefit to my constituents, providing the real change they need.”

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