Alex Salmond won’t give up pension

ALEX Salmond has refused to give up his £40,000 annual First Minister’s pension which, alongside retirement pay-outs for his service as an MP and MSP, could see him handed a combined lifetime pension pot of £1.6 million.

Mr Salmond, in a letter to Labour MSP John Park, said it was “not possible” to give up the special First Minister’s pension despite moves by Gordon Brown and David Cameron to switch from a similar scheme to a less generous arrangement.

Labour MSP Mr Park, a former pension trustee at the Rosyth dockyard, estimated that Mr Salmond’s pension pot would include annual payments from his First Minister’s pension, MP scheme and MSP’s pension.

The First Minister’s office declined to comment.