Kemi Badenoch has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “raising hopes and smashing them” with a series of “broken promises”.
The Tory leader opened PMQs with an attack on the government’s decision not to compensate Waspi women, despite the prime minister previously pledging “rapid justice” for the group.
She then pivoted to the cut to winter fuel payments – though the Conservative was reminded she had previously referred to the benefit as a “dead weight” and called for means-testing it.
Politics Live: PM responds to backlash over Waspi decision
Ms Badenoch said: “For years, the prime minister and his cabinet played politics with the Waspi women and the deputy prime minister (Angela Rayner) said Conservatives were stealing their pensions.
“She promised to compensate them in full. Another broken promise. Now they admit we were right all along.”
The government said on Tuesday that compensating women born in the 1950s affected by an increase to their retirement age would “burden” the taxpayer with a £10.5bn bill.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has since defended the announcement by saying that most women knew it was coming.
Several cabinet ministers and Sir Keir himself have also previously expressed support for the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign group, who have long argued they were not given sufficient warning about the pension age changing.
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At PMQs, Ms Badenoch continued her argument by saying there was another group of pensioners whose “trust had been broken” by the government – those who no longer qualify for winter fuel payments.
“The tragic reality this Christmas is pensioners will suffer and may even die as a result of this cruel policy,” she said.
Sir Keir retorted he had to “put the finances back in order after the last government lost control”, and left a “£22bn black hole”.
Stabilising the economy protects the triple lock on pensions, the prime minister said, pointing out that shadow chancellor Mel Stride has recently described the lock as “unsustainable” – despite Tory promises at this year’s election.
“Now she says they are committed to the triple lock… maybe over a sandwich or a steak they could sort it out and come back and tell us what their policy actually is,” the prime minister said, in a quip at Ms Badenoch’s recent sandwich criticism.
Sir Keir added: “She used to say that the [winter fuel payments] were a dead weight. She said there were members of her constituency who didn’t need it, and they all stood in 2017 on a manifesto, a Tory manifesto, that committed to getting rid of the universal winter payments for pensioners.”
Read more:
What is a Waspi woman and what happened to them?
Is Rachel Reeves playing fast and loose with inflation?
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Ms Badenoch hit back: “Pensioners won’t be able to heat their homes because of his government’s decisions. They raise people’s hopes but then smash them with broken promises.”
“The truth is they are punching the British people in the face – literally, in the case of one of his MPs,” she added, apparently referring to allegations against Mike Amesbury MP.
Sir Keir replied: “A £22bn black hole, record waiting lists with the NHS… immigration completely out of control, nearly a million net migration. She was the cheerleader for all of that. She wants the truth. That’s the truth.“
