Three sisters have described the government's decision not to pay compensation in the "Waspi" women pension case as a "slap in the face". The Parliamentary Ombudsman said more than three million women born in the 1950s did not get adequate notice of the changes to the rises in the state pension age and should be compensated.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group has held protests about the issue and lobbied successive governments. It does not oppose the equalisation of the state pension age for women and men.

Keir Starmer’s UK government faces a backlash after saying it will not compensate the so-called “WASPI women,” who were affected by an unexpected increase in the state pension age, the latest example of the new Labour administration alienating a core constituency of voters.

But Sir Keir's words and actions, and those of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Chancellor Rachel Reeves among others, including photos of them with the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaigners, left those campaigners with the impression that Labour was on their side.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended a decision to reject compensation for women hit by changes to the state pension age after a backlash. She said "the vast majority" of women knew the changes were coming, and "as Chancellor I have to account for every penny of taxpayers money spent".