DOZENS of petitions urging the UK Government to help some 2.6 million women whose retirement plans have been “shattered” by rapid increases to the state pension age have been delivered to Westminster by SNP MPs.

The petitions, containing several thousand names, demand justice for those women born in the 1950s who, it is argued, have become victims by the acceleration of the timetable to align the state pension ages between the sexes.

While the UK Government has argued that the cost of providing transitional arrangements would be as high as £30 billion, the SNP insists independent research it has commissioned shows the figure to be £8bn.

Local Women Against State Pension Inequality[WASPI] groups have gathered thousands of signatures from their local areas in support of the petitions, calling for action from the UK Government, which SNP MPs have lodged in parliament.

The petitions will be presented in the House of Commons before being sent to Whitehall for a formal government response.

Ian Blackford MP, the SNP’s pensions spokesperson, said: “Around 2.6m women have been unfairly hit by the rapid rises to the state pension age and as a result their retirement plans have been shattered.

“Thousands of signatures have been gathered by local WASPI groups up and down the country, which shows the strength of feeling behind this urgent call to the UK Government to provide support for the women affected by these changes.”

Mr Blackford, who represents Ross, Skye and Lochaber, made clear the argument was not against the equalisation of the state pension age.

“These women have paid National Insurance contributions and are due their pension; it is not a benefit but a contract that the UK Government has broken,” he declared.

Mr Blackford added: “The Tories must do the right thing and listen to the voices of all the WASPI women. By using the surplus in the National Insurance Fund for transitional measures the Tories can afford to provide relief and dignity in retirement for millions of women."