Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 26 March 2024.
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Scottish National Party
The ombudsman’s report was clear that the DWP must do the right thing right away.
That means that the UK Government must not only apologise for the harms caused by the maladministration; it must also act. It must set up a compensation scheme that provides full and genuine compensation for the women concerned.
It is deeply disappointing that, after years of promises made by Labour and Tory members, those parties are both now refusing to accept the report’s recommendations to fully compensate the women who have been impacted. Alan Brown MP has cross-party support to compensate women through a bill. Once again, it is clear that only with strong voices from the Scottish National Party at Westminster can Westminster Governments be held to account, regardless of whether they are Labour or Tory.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
