MID and West MS Helen Mary Jones has made a plea in the Senedd during Counsel General questions for Welsh Ministers to back the campaign of women born in the 1950s denied their pensions.

The Counsel General Jeremy Miles told the virtual Senedd the Welsh Government’s last letter to the Westminster Government on the pensions issue did not even get a reply.

Pembrokeshire co-ordinator for WASPI Jackie Gilderdale said: “Groups across the UK were devastated by Rishi Sunak’s mini budget as yet again the Government has failed to support women born in the 1950s.They should be part of the economic recovery.

“Why did the Counsel General say last year he cannot get involved with supporting the Judicial Review, then in his response to Helen Mary Jones he said they’ve written to UK Government, but have not had a response.

“Can he make that letter public and why has he not followed up with UK Government to get a response?

“The Appeal Hearing will be on July 21 but in the meantime MPs Ben Lake and Andrew Gwynne have asked the Chancellor to allow all 1950s women immediate access to their State Pension and Pension Credit - will he support that and again follow up with UK Government?”

Plaid Cymru is backing calls for 1950s women to have early access to their pensions and pension credit and shadow economy, transport and tackling poverty minister Helen Mary Jones said: “The whole point of pensions is that it is universal and that is what these women are entitled to.

“I called for the Westminster Government to address this injustice and come forward with an appropriate redress scheme before further legal steps are taken.

“Plaid Cymru believes the Westminster Government should make fair transitional state pension arrangements for all women born in the 1950s, who have unfairly borne the burden of the increase to the State Pension Age with a lack of appropriate notification.

“The Westminster Government have shown themselves willing to make very substantial investments in protecting our economy. It is time they make a similar investment in addressing the injustice that the women born in the 1950s have faced.

“There would be potentially an additional benefit to doing so, because it would enable some of those women to retire as they had planned to do, potentially releasing some roles in the workforce for workers who are not yet ready to retire.”