I THOUGHT you may like a letter from myself - and 3.9 million 1950s women who have had their state pension stolen.

All the publicity about crooked private pension scheme scams on TV is a real thought provoker, of course I feel empathy for the people who have been victims, who wouldn’t?

To have your pension plans and dreams shattered is absolutely devastating.

It is great that it is getting coverage but why is the robbery of our state pension not being blazoned across the TV too? (I ask this with my tongue firmly in my cheek)...

The answer is because we weren’t ripped off by some hard nose salesperson, we are being ripped off by our own government – and we had no choice but to ‘buy into it’.

With no letters, no notice and no opportunity to make financial provision, women (starting with those born in the 1950s) have been sys-tematically and ruthlessly robbed.

Had we been given a level playing field to start with we might have had half a chance, but our generation have not been given equal opportunities.

We have had inequality throughout our lives, here are some examples....women still do not earn as much as men (Gender Pay Gap reporting proves this), women/part time workers were not able to join private pension schemes and opportunities to progress in the workplace were not equal.

The government would be wise to remember we and our families all have the right to vote and we will be exercising that right in favour of a party that will help us, not punish us for be-ing women of a certain age.

JACKIE LEE

Thors Oak

Stanford-le-Hope