PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces his first major rebellion after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and as many as 100 of his own MPs disowned his decision not to compensate Waspi women.

Despite accepting the assessment that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was guilty of “maladminstration” in handling changes to state pension eligibility for women born in the 1950s, and offering an apology on behalf of the government, Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall dismissed the ombudsman’s calls for compensation on Tuesday.

The watchdog had suggested payments of up to £2,950 each for affected women, running to a bill estimated at £3.5-10.5 billion.