LEIGH ladies took their fight against state pension inequality to the Houses of Parliament last Wednesday.

The members of the Leigh, Makerfield and Wigan branch of the national Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign were among 2,500 people protesting against the accelerated increase of the retirement age for women from 60 to 66 at the home of British politics in London.

The demonstration aimed to highlight the impact of the changes to the state pension threshold on those born after April 6, 1951, with many standing to lose thousands of pounds.

Gillian Harris, of the Leigh, Makerfield and Wigan branch said: “It was so fabulous to be there. I certainly never thought I would be demonstrating outside Parliament and it was incredible.”

Plans to bring the retirement age for women into line with men by 2020 were fast-tracked by the government in 2011.

WASPI campaigners are not against the idea of equalising pension ages but are critical of how the process has been handled by the government.

They are aiming for fair transitional arrangements to be put in place due to the lack of notice given for the changes.

Gillian, 61, added: “We are still fighting because it is not fair that women who worked for 40 or more years are now not entitled to pensions they were expecting and relied on.

“The next move for the campaign is to do a national-local demonstration with people from across the UK demonstrating in their respective areas at the same time on the same day.”