LABOUR is pledging to settle an "historical debt of honour" to the 3.7 million women born in the 1950s by compensating them for losses due to state pension age changes.

But immediately political opponents asked how the Opposition would meet the cost estimated to be as much as £58 billion over five years of the next parliament.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister, said he was "naturally sympathetic" to the position the women were in but accused Labour of producing a manifesto that "drove a coach and horses" through the party's own rules on spending.

He stressed: “It’s also important that when we’re looking at spending priorities overall, we recognise that Labour, if they went ahead with their plans, would not only be borrowing more and taxing more, their tax plans would hit pensions.

“All of our pensions depend on the health of investments and pension funds. Labour’s tax plans would hit those investments and those pension funds and damage economic security for everyone,” he added.

Jo Swinson for the Liberal Democrats said it was not clear "where the money is coming from".

Labour suggested individual payments could average £15,380 running to a maximum of £31,300.

The move follows a lengthy campaign by the so-called "Waspi women," who complained they were given insufficient time to prepare for the changes brought in by the former Lib-Con Coalition Government.

Those women expecting to retire at 60 were told they would have to wait years longer when changes to the state pension age were accelerated in 2010.

The Labour policy announcement also follows on quickly from Friday night’s BBC Question Time leaders’ special when Boris Johnson was challenged by one of the women in the studio audience on the pensions issue.

The Prime Minister stressed that while he sympathised deeply with the WASPI women, he could not promise to "magic up that money" for them.

Announcing the policy, the costing of which was not included in last week’s Labour manifesto, John McDonnell said: "We've prepared a scheme to compensate these women for a historical wrong.

"It's one that they were not been able to prepare for and for which they've had to suffer serious financial consequences for as a result.

"Some of them have been hit by a combination of poverty and stress, having lost out on what they had contributed towards.”

The Shadow Chancellor added: "These changes were imposed upon them by a Tory-led government. So, we have a historical debt of honour to them and when we go into government, we are going to fulfil that debt."