Radical Welfare Benefits Blog

tl:dr The SNP have the power to support WASPI women and they admit in private that they can, and I’ve got the direct evidence this time. I‘ll show the text of a leaked copy of Jeane Freeman's letter to the UK Government (which they sent to the media after my last blog). In this Freeman admits that the Scottish Government does have the power to support WASPI women and, embarrassingly, admits that she doesn't understand the definitions she is invoking in WASPI debates.  For the really short on time I've summarised the exchange into one screen of text. The only thing that is stopping the Scottish Government is... the SNP. They have satisfied the requirements in the Scotland Act to check that a new benefit can be payable, they've had confirmation from the UK, and yet (as late as yesterday) they are still claiming in public that they don’t have the power.  Throughout this post you should bear in mind that the Scottish Government has previously deemed it "no

tl:dr A new FOI (from the DWP) has shown that the analysis in my last blog was correct. The Scottish Government do unquestionably have the power to provide direct financial assistance to WASPI women in Scotland. The FOI also shows that the SNP Social Security Minister Jeane Freeman acknowledges and accepts that these powers exist. The SNP have been playing fast and loose with the truth on this issue, at times outright lying, and leading Scottish voters, WASPI women and the Scottish Parliament on a merry dance. This blog explains how and why.  Since my last blog I dropped my phone late on Friday night as I tried to read the results of my latest FOI on the welfare powers of the Scottish Government. I dropped it because I couldn't believe what I was reading.  Since my first post on this  I've received nothing but flack from nationalists and direct and indirect attacks from people within the SNP claiming I'm completely wrong. I've also received the usual abuse from n

Well it's fair to say that the WASPI blog post had a bigger impact than I expected. However in the last couple of days there have been a few developments that are worth pointing out.  Firstly was Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions this week . Ian Blackford decided to go on WASPI for the final PMQs of the session. Watch it very carefully and you can see Damian Green MP feeding May the same line he used in Question Time. When the Prime Ministers put the position back to the SNP: "The Scottish Government now does have extra powers in the area of welfare, and perhaps it's about time the Scottish Government got on with the day job" The pantomime reaction from the SNP is there for you to see, lots of exaggerated shaking of heads in a deliberate attempt to claim the SNP cant use their powers.  We've already established that there is nothing stopping the SNP from increasing pensions for women affected by WASPI, so at the very least they can compensate t

I  know how emotive the WASPI issue is so I’ve held back on this post for some time, but no more. The stunning level of hypocrisy displayed by the SNP on this subject has become unbearable and therefore I thought I needed to set out a blog exposing them in detail.   Let me say before I begin that some of this is a work in progress, as I need a couple more FOIs to complete, however I do certainly have enough to be able to conclude that the SNP are clearly out to deceive on the issue of WASPI and in particular over their claims on the lack of powers they have to support WASPI women in Scotland.   In this blog I’ll show (through FOIs) that whilst the SNP deny that they have the powers to support WASPI women they actually can give them direct financial support, and they know it. Furthermore I’ll also show (through FOIs, the legislation and statements by the UK Government) that they have the powers to immunise WASPI women from the effects of the equalisation of pension ages b