Swinney accused of ‘lying’ and ‘scaremongering’ with pensions comments

One of Andy Burnham’s ministers has accused Scotland’s First Minister of trying to make “cheap political points to scare pensioners” with his comments over UK Government plans to change pensions.

Pensions minister Torsten Bell claimed John Swinney was “lying” with his claims that pensioners in Scotland could be left about £2,000 a year worse off as a result of the changes.

The Labour minister went on to accuse the SNP leader of “trying for cheap political points to scare pensioners”.

The row erupted after the Prime Minister set out plans to end the triple lock on pensions from 2030, using the cash saved from this to help fund social care south of the border.

Under Mr Burnham’s proposals, pensions will still rise by at least 2.5% or the rate of CPI inflation going forward.

Mr Swinney, however, has insisted that pensioners in Scotland will “lose out as a consequence of the abolition of the triple lock”.

Insisting it would have a “detrimental impact on pensioners in Scotland” he said previously that there could be a “real loss of around £2,000 per person per year”.

Those comments have already provoked an angry reaction from the opposition at Holyrood, with both Labour and the Scottish Tories accusing him of misleading Parliament.

Now the UK pensions minister has also intervened in the row, describing the situation as being a “really bad example of a First Minister in a serious position of responsibility trying for cheap political points to scare pensioners”.

Mr Bell told journalists that the First Minister had “rightly been called out for lying about the impact on state pensioners in Scotland, telling them the pension will be cut”.

The Labour minister stressed that “the pension will rise every single year under our plans, rising every single year even after we adjust the triple lock”.

He continued: “Scottish pensioners, I think, have seen completely through that, which is why he has not received any traction.

“But I do think it points to the dangers of a First Minister that is choosing to prioritise scaremongering for cheap politics and grievance, rather than trying to deliver, for example, a better care service for people in Scotland who can see the problems with the status quo.”

Scottish Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth said, however, that “the First Minister stands by his comments in relation to the triple lock”.

Ms Gilruth added: “The UK Government’s own figures show pensioners in the UK will be worse off by £15 billion per year by 2039-40, rising to around £50 billion per year by 2049-50, compared to the current triple lock being maintained.

“In Scotland this would equate to around a £2,000 reduction in real terms in individual pensioner incomes by 2049-50, as compared to the existing triple lock policy.

“That is a clear loss in expected pension – which the UK Government have made clear is their plan in abandoning the current tiple lock.”