SNP to block higher pension age in Scotland

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 7 Απριλίου 2015 - 09:29

The Scottish National party will seek to block any further increase in the UK's state pension age, saying any increase would be unfair to people in Scotland who tend to die younger than the UK average.

Polls suggest the SNP is on course to win most of Scotland's 59 seats in Westminster at May's general election, making the party a potentially powerful barrier to attempts to ease UK fiscal strains by raising the pension age.

Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader and Scotland's first minister, said the coalition government's plan to further increase the state pension age had been a concern to people across the UK, but was "particularly unfair" in failing to take into account Scotland's "specific circumstances".

"Our comparatively low life expectancy rate is an issue which I will do everything in my power to change - but in the meantime it would be completely unacceptable for people in Scotland who have paid in to a state pension all of their lives to lose out," Ms Sturgeon said.

"SNP MPs will reject any plans for a further increase in the state pension age," she said during a visit to a care home in East Dunbartonshire on Monday.

Life expectancy at 65 in Scotland is relatively low, with males expected to live an average of 1.2 fewer years and females 1.3 fewer years than people in the UK as a whole.

Scottish government research published last year found a 65-year-old woman entitled to a total pension of £160 per week could expect to get about £11,000 less in Scotland than counterparts in the rest of the UK. For a man who lives in Glasgow, the "pension gap" was £29,000.

Under UK government plans, the state pension age will rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028 and will be linked to life expectancy after that; those in their early 20s now may have to wait until they are at least 70 before they qualify.

The SNP sought to make the state pension age an issue in last year's independence referendum, arguing that it was an area where Scottish interests were clearly divergent from those of the rest of the UK.

However, pro-union parties say Scotland's pensioners benefit from being part of a large economy more able to pool risk and benefit - an advantage they say is also threatened by SNP calls for "full fiscal autonomy".

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>Fiscal autonomy would mean Scotland taking responsibility for raising and spending all its own taxes while paying toward the costs of the UK central government, ending the current system under which London gives the Scottish government a block grant calculated using the "Barnett formula".

Following the slump in the oil price, Labour says fiscal autonomy would be disastrous for Scotland.

"The SNP are hiding a Barnett bombshell from pensioners," said Gregg McClymont, Labour candidate for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East. "The SNP want only Scottish taxes to support Scottish spending - that would end the UK shared pension. To pretend otherwise is simply dishonest."

Ms Sturgeon said the SNP's "Pensioners Plan" also included retention of the "Triple Lock" under which the state pension increases either by inflation, in line with wages or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher.

The SNP would seek a single tier pension rate of at least £160 and pledge to oppose any attempt to end the winter fuel allowance.

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