WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones believes thousands of women are 'being driven into poverty' as a result of rises to the stage pension age.

The 61-year-old produced an 'inspiring' parliamentary speech on the matter and highlighted the 'lack of notice' given to women born in the 1950s, who will be hit hardest by the changes.

The state pension age for men and women is set to be 65 by November 2018, followed by a increase to 66 by 2020, but campaigners believe women's retirement plans are now up in the air due to the announcement.

Mrs Jones said: "I am speaking for the thousands of women in this country who are having to change their retirement plans at short notice, to dig into their often meagre savings, or to rely on their husband's pension.

"Many of them are being driven into poverty as a result. This debate is not about the question of equalising the state pension age.

"Of all the many women who have contacted me, none have objected to that.

"This is about the speed of the changes, their impact on a particular group and the lack of notification, or totally inadequate notification, that women have received.

"It is very clear that many women did not receive notice of changes in their pension age after 1995 and the speeding up of these changes in the 2011 made things worse.

"People have made decisions about their lives often based on no information or wrong information.

"As I said, if this happened with a private provider, we would be pursuing them for misselling."

The parliamentary debate follows a petition calling for 'fair transitional state pension arrangements for 1950s women' which has gained more than 145,000 signatures.

A total of 316 Warrington North residents have signed it, with 344 from Warrington South.