MP attends inaugural meeting of Argyll WASPIs

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waspi-argyll-and-isles-inaugral-meeting-12-nov-2016Brendan O’Hara MP: “I will continue to support and work with WASPI Argyll and Isles who are determined to fight on until a remedy to this problem is found.”
As the pressure continues to mount on the UK government to address the pension age transition inequality faced by thousands of women across Argyll and Bute, local MP Brendan O’Hara attended the inaugural meeting of the WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) Argyll and the Isles group, Saturday 12 th November in Helensburgh.
The newly formed group, co-founded by Helensburgh resident Anne Greer, aims to bring together women from Argyll and Bute born in the 1950s who, due to changes in government rules on when a pension can be drawn, will lose thousands of pounds with some facing financial hardship in their retirement.
During the meeting, Brendan said,  “I am delighted to see this new group set up which will represent women from all corners of Argyll and Bute to persuade the government to introduce sensible transitional arrangements which will mitigate the hardship that many women will now face due to the new rules on the age they can draw their pension; in some cases there are women who will lose up to 7 years of a pension that they have paid into in good faith.”  

He went on to say,  “As I have said before on many occasions, the government must honour the pensions contract they entered into with these women and cannot change the rules without proper consultation and warning that this was happening.  I will continue to support and work with WASPI Argyll and Isles who are determined to fight on until a remedy to this problem is found” Anne Greer, co-founder of the group said, “Some Argyll and Bute women have been campaigning as individuals on behalf of WASPI for over a year and we have appreciated Brendan’s support during this time.  Working with the UK WASPI group, we will be a force to be reckoned with.” More information can be found Waspi Argyll & Isles facebook or contact via email on argyllisleswaspi@outlook.com