An MP has pledged his support to a group of women who feel they were harshly treated when their state pension age was suddenly increased.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) group staged a protest outside Parliament on Wednesday October 30, in the hope that Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget would announce some form of compensation for them.

Brian Leishman, MP for Alloa and Grangemouth, attended the demonstration and pledged his support to the cause.

He said: "I was delighted to show my solidarity with the ladies involved with the WASPI campaign as they held their demonstration at Westminster.

"These ladies are the victims of an injustice and hearing the stories of their comrades that have sadly passed away before receiving what is rightfully theirs, is beyond awful.

"I will continue to support the WASPI ladies in their campaign both inside and outside of Parliament.

"They deserve justice and it’s long overdue."

The group is made up of women born in the 1950s who claim they were not given enough notice when their state pension age was increased from 60 to 65, and then to 66.

They claim that this has cost them 'an average of £50,000' in lost state pension payments.

An ombudsman report released in March 2024 agreed that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to give adequate notice of the age change.

The ombudsman report said: "Following research reported in 2006, DWP failed again to ‘get it right’ and ‘seek continuous improvement’.

"It did not act promptly enough on its November 2006 proposal to write directly to affected women to tell them about changes to State Pension age."

Despite the demonstration, no compensation package was announced for the group during the budget.

There has also been no official response to the ombudsman report, due to the dissolving of the previous Parliament ahead of the July general election.