Yes Yes I Love ScotlandEnsuring our older people get a fair share with a Yes vote Posted by Angus Millar on September 13, 2013 A Yes vote offers us the opportunity to build a fairer pensions system in an independent Scotland, ensuring our older people benefit fully from Scotland’s wealth. Yet today, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was arguing that older people will be better served by “pooling resources” and “sharing the risk” by remaining under Westminster control. Some will find it darkly ironic that the very same man who undertook a massive raid on pensions as Chancellor of the Exchequer, imposing a “pension stealth tax” which cost retirement funds at least £100billion, is now arguing that people’s pensions are “safest” with a Westminster system which has done them so much damage. Mr Brown argues that spending on pensions is higher per head in Scotland than in England. But he neglects to mention that pensions and welfare spending represents a lower proportion of Scotland’s GDP than for the UK – 14.4% for Scotland, and 15.9% for the UK in 2011-12. That means that we can better afford social protection for our older people in Scotland than the rest of the UK. The former Prime Minister’s “pooling and sharing” argument is also on shaky ground – a characterisation that very few will recognise of a Westminster system which made the UK the fourth most unequal country in the developed world. As Dave Moxham, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said this week: “The picture of the current UK state, presented by Gordon Brown and others, as an effective agent for redistribution and solidarity falls foul of the everyday experience of members faced with social insecurity, wage inequality and an inadequate welfare system.” Mr Brown’s rose-tinted characterisation Westminster’s record on the economy and pensions just doesn’t ring true. We only need to compare the record of Scotland and Westminster on supporting our older people. In addition to Gordon Brown’s raid on private pensions, in one year his UK Government increased the state pension by just 75p a week – a paltry rise for pensioners struggling with ever rising prices. Poor regulation at the UK level has led to massive pension fund deficits, with mismanagement and conscious policy choices from Westminster leaving the future of social protection more uncertain than ever before. And just this year the current Westminster government introduced the so-called “Granny Tax”, a freeze in age related tax allowances which will affect millions of people across the UK and demonstrates yet further Westminster’s poor record on providing for our older people. Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament, with limited powers, has done what it can to protect and support pensioners and older people in Scotland. Everybody aged 65 and over in Scotland has access to free personal care where required, allowing older people to retain their personal independence and ensuring fair and equal access to the support they need. The Scottish Parliament introduced concessionary travel for people over the age of 60, with the National Entitlement Card providing free travel on local and long distance buses, providing a lifeline to older people in rural communities and ensuring mobility for older people across Scotland. And the current Scottish Government has pledged that in an independent Scotland, if re-elected, they would give a triple-lock guarantee, something which all of the Westminster parties have refused to commit to. The triple lock would ensure that the state pension would increase year-on-year either by price inflation, average earning increases or 2.5%, whichever is higher. That means safer and fairer pensions in an independent Scotland, at a time where Westminster’s pension plans will see ‘a cut in pension entitlements for most people in the long run’, according to the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies. Westminster has mismanaged and actively harmed social security for pensioners in Scotland, and the UK Government’s current policies are only set to make things worse. A cursory glance at the comparative record of Scotland and Westminster in providing for our older people tells us that pensioners have been better served by decisions being made in Scotland where we have the ability to do so. With that in mind, the question must be this: who should our older people trust more to provide help and support? Without the powers of independence, Scotland is powerless to deliver a fairer deal on pensions and social security. But with a Yes vote, we will have the tools we need to ensure that our older citizens, like all our people, feel the full benefits of Scotland’s prosperity.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 12:07:40 +0000
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