Last week, the SNP leader told MSPs during First Minister’s Questions that the UK Government‘s decision to end the pensions triple lock from 2030 proved that Unionist pledges during the first Scottish independence referendum were “absolute rubbish”.
“We have been taken out of the European Union and we are now going to lose our pensions,” Swinney said. “Scotland needs to have independence.”
READ MORE: Andy Burnham triple lock changes ‘to cost Scottish pensioners £4 billion’
In a letter sent to the First Minister on Sunday, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay accused Swinney of misleading parliament.
“In response to my questions about the SNP’s out of control benefits bill, you referred to the UK Labour Government’s decision to scrap the state pension triple lock,” Findlay said.
“You stated that ‘we are now going to lose our pensions’. This inaccurate and irresponsible comment is inevitably causing concern to Scottish pensioners.”
The pensions triple lock states that the state pension must rise in line with wages, with inflation, or by 2.5%, whichever is highest. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said that, from 2030, the link to wages will be changed in order to fund a National Care Service in England.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will end the triple lock on pensions from 2030 (Image: Peter Byrne / PA)
Speaking to press on Monday, Swinney denied misleading parliament – insisting that UK state pensions were at threat from Labour policies.
“I’ve got nothing to explain to Parliament about this issue,” Swinney said. “Scottish pensioners were led to believe there was a triple lock going to be in place, and that gave them legitimate expectations about the level of their pension.
“They’re going to lose out on that because Andy Burnham is removing the triple lock. So that’s the hard reality that pensioners in Scotland are having to face up to having been promised in 2014 that their pensions were safe.
“Their pensions have just been undermined by the Labour Government.”
READ MORE: Is Andy Burnham making Scottish pensioners pay for England’s care service?
Asked if he was “scaremongering” by claiming people would lose their pensions, the First Minister added: “The Treasury have set out the amount by which pensions will not increase, the amount by which people will lose out in the years to come. That’s what I’ve set out to Parliament.
“Now, if people don’t like the uncomfortable reality of removing the triple lock and undermining the pension and the legitimate expectations that were raised by the No campaign in 2014 – pensions would increase by a certain amount over the course of the future if people voted No – that’s the hard reality I’m pointing out to people in Scotland today.”
The UK Government has estimated that changing the triple lock will “reduce state pension spending by £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s, rising to £50bn a year by 2050”.
During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the UK Government claimed: “Being part of the UK means people in Scotland have greater certainty and security when it comes to vital benefits such as their State Pension.”