Nigel Farage faces voter backlash after Ann Widdecombe slams pension campaigners as ‘self-indulgent and entitled’

Protests are now planned outside her remaining dates on her Strictly Ann tour following her remarks on a BBC show. Widdecombe, 71, is top of Farage’s Brexit Party’s south west region list ahead of the European Parliament elections next month. The former Tory MP said: “I’m sorry I’m going to be blunt here, it is unreasonable, self-indulgent and entitled to think that you can retire at the same age with a much longer life expectancy at the state’s expense.” The controversy surrounds the transition to equal pension age with campaigners saying many women only found about the change months before they were due to turn 60. It means many have had to carry on working for an extra five or six years. Up to 3.9 million women are thought to be affected by the changes, according to the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group. There is going to be a judicial review of the alleged mishandling of the case to be held at the High Court in June.