John Swinney says pensioners "betrayed" by Labour's Waspi women decision
The UK Government announced there will be no financial package for women impacted by the change to the state pension age
The First Minister says the Labour Government has "chosen to string pensioners along before completely betraying them".
The UK Government announced today there will be no financial compensation for women impacted by the change to the state pension age.
A report from the Ombudsman found maladministration at the hands of the UK government, which Labour accepted, while also apologising for a 28-month delay in writing to women impacted by the changes.
John Swinney said: "This is not just a shameful episode for the UK Government, it is yet another serious embarrassment for the Labour leadership in Scotland.
"The choice for Scottish Labour is, will they do the right thing and stand up for older people in Scotland or will they stand up for the Prime Minister?"
Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokeswoman Christine Jardine said Tuesday was a "day of shame for the Government".
She added: "The new Government has turned its back on millions of pension-age women who were wronged through no fault of their own, ignoring the independent Ombudsman's recommendations, and that is frankly disgraceful.
"The Conservative Party left our economy in a shambles, but asking wronged pensioners to pay the price of their mismanagement is simply wrong."
Scottish Labour says it had hoped for a "compromise" on compensation for Waspi campaigners.
But, in a statement, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: "These two facts: that most women knew the state pension age was increasing and that letters aren't as significant as the Ombudsman says, as well as other reasons, have informed our conclusion that there should be no scheme of financial compensation to 1950s-born women, in response to the Ombudsman's report.
"The alternative put forward in the report is for a flat rate compensation scheme, at level four of the Ombudsman's scale of injustice, this would provide £1,000 to £2,950 per person at a total cost between £3.5 billion and £10.5 billion.
"Given the vast majority of women knew the state pension age was increasing, the Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5 billion would be fair or proportionate to taxpayers."
Responding to the news, Scottish Labour social security spokesman Paul O'Kane said: "Many will be disappointed that no compensation is being offered to the thousands of women impacted by the Tory decision to raise their pension age without proper notice.
"Of course, the UK Government should be focused on fixing the economic mess it inherited, but in recognising this injustice we would hope to have seen a compromise position that would have allowed for some form of compensation for the Waspi women most in need from this long running failure."
Mr O'Kane added it is "right that the UK Government has recognised the injustice suffered by the Waspi women".