Scottish Independence: Gordon Brown courts elderly

Former prime minister Gordon Brown will argue that Scotland’s pensioners are better off within the Union when he gives a speech in his constituency.

Gordon Brown says the elderly would be better opff in the union. Picture: PA

Mr Brown will tell an audience in Kirkcaldy tomorrow that older people are assured a better deal on both state and private pensions with the pooled resources and shared risk that comes with being part of the UK.

The MP will address Scotland’s rising elderly population and what he believes are the implications of independence for pensioners.

Speaking at Kirkcaldy’s Old Kirk as part of the Fife Talks lecture series, Mr Brown will say: “Pensioners and prospective pensioners will ask whether - having contributed all their lives to their pensions paid from the UK Treasury - it makes any sense to have separate Scottish pensions, particularly when the average spending on all pensioner benefits per head of the Scottish population is £1,380 per year against only £1,318 in England.”

Spread risks

“As Scotland’s pensioner population rises, Scotland will require 3% more spending than the rest of Britain per capita on welfare by 2021, a rise on today’s figure of 2%.

“We can do better by pensioners because we have a wider, deeper and bigger pool of resources in the UK to draw upon and we can share the risks across the whole of the country.

“This is true also of private pensions where shared arrangements for the UK allow us to spread risks across a bigger pool.”

Mr Brown is expected to say the SNP is now “in retreat” from earlier pledges on pensions.

“So big has been their retreat from their original position that they are even now talking of a transitional period when Scottish pensions would be paid by the UK Government,” he will say.

‘No lessons from Gordon Brown’

“Anyone looking objectively at the prospects for pensioners would have to conclude that having the strength of the UK around us is the safer and surer way forward.”

The SNP’s Kevin Stewart, a member of Holyrood’s Welfare Reform Committee, said: “People in Scotland will take no lessons from Gordon Brown when it comes to pensions, after his actions led directly to the collapse of final-salary pension schemes.

“It is clear that the real threat to people’s pensions comes from remaining with a Westminster Government, with the IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies) having warned that current Tory plans will see ‘a cut in pension entitlements for most people in the long run’.

“That is why a majority of people in Scotland want decisions on pensions and welfare policy to be made in Scotland - something that only a Yes vote in next year’s referendum will deliver.”