As this will be my first column since Mark Drakeford stood down as First Minister, I would like to thank him for his public service.

While my party, Plaid Cymru, have had many differences with him and with his government, we have also worked constructively together on a number of issues which I believe matter to the people of Wales.

One example is the plight of 1950s-born women who have been denied their state pensions. I’m sure that everyone reading this column will know one of the “WASPI” women, whose dedication and campaigning inspires me immensely.

I have raised their plight repeatedly in the Senedd, and as a result, the Welsh Government has written to the UK government on numerous occasions to express concern about the injustice facing these women who had their state pension age raised without effective notification by the Pensions Acts of 1995 and 2011.

The 1950s Women of Wales and Pension Partners for Justice group were in the public gallery as I again raised the issue in the Senedd earlier this month.

They should not still be waiting for the justice that’s been denied them. It's a scandal that the UK government has dragged its feet for so long that women have died before getting the money they're owed, and they are due financial redress.

I hope, and I trust that the ombudsman will recommend awarding payments of the highest level possible, but Westminster has the final say.

I urged the Welsh Government to maintain the pressure at this critical time. Any proposal to pay these women off with a sum that is less than what they are owed would go against UK equality legislation and would flout international law.

This wrongdoing must be made right and to correct the imbalance that allowed nearly 10 million men to claim free national insurance contributions from the 1980s right up until 2018, while 1950s-born women were stopped from claiming anything.

It is direct discrimination; these women deserve certainty and to be given hope that they will finally see justice.

In his reply to me, the Welsh Government’s chief legal adviser, the Counsel General Mick Antoniw MS said it was important that posthumous payments are made by the UK government, because so many people have passed away before seeing any form of justice or compensation.

It is important that that is recognised and that justice is delivered for those women who are no longer here to receive it.