Michelle Dewberry has confronted Labour MP Barry Gardiner over Sir Keir Starmer's treatment of women affected by state pension age changes.
The GB News host directly challenged the ex-Shadow Cabinet Minister, declaring that Labour had "let down Waspi women".
Speaking on Dewbs & Co, Michelle stated: "The Labour Party failed Waspi women."
After a moments pause, Gardiner agreed: "I think successive Governments failed Waspi women."
GB NEWS
|Barry Gardiner admitted the Waspi women have been failed
Michelle added: "Yeah, but I’ll tell you why I asked about Labour in particular, because there were so many examples of Labour politicians saying, “When we get into office, we will remedy the injustice.” I can remember pictures of all kinds of people."
Gardiner answered: "I was on those protests myself. I spoke to the Waspi women out on the street.
"So you're not just talking about Labour politicians you’re talking about me as well. And I own up to that."
The host pressed: "Do you think you failed them?"
He replied: "I think we failed them in this sense: we genuinely believed, at the time we were speaking with them, that there would be the funds and money available to do that.
"This Government has had to do things it didn’t want to do in terms of Winter Fuel Payments, and the other cuts they’ve had to make because of the dire financial situation the country was left in by the Conservatives.
"We haven’t been able to do many of the things we wanted, and the cost of doing what I believe would have been right by Waspi women was one of the sacrifices that, I’m afraid, they bore the brunt of.
"So yeah, I totally get what you’re saying, and I think it’s a cause of real sorrow that we weren’t able to deliver."
The Waspi campaign represents approximately 3.8 million women who experienced financial hardship due to modifications in retirement age equality between genders.
These individuals argue they received insufficient notice to adjust their retirement planning accordingly.
GB NEWS
|Michelle Dewberry questioned the MP
A 2021 investigation by the Parliament and Health Service Ombudsman determined that the Department for Work and Pensions had committed "maladministration".
The watchdog concluded that inadequate communication left thousands of women unprepared for the pension age alterations.
The ombudsman's subsequent findings in March 2024 proposed compensation ranging from £1,000 to £2,750 for women born during the 1950s, classified as a Level 4 payment.
However, the report specified that parliamentary approval would be necessary to authorise any compensation scheme.