Sturgeon: Raising pension age is unfair on Scots – they die younger!

RAISING the retirement age is unfair on Scottish pensioners because they tend to die younger, Nicola Sturgeon declared yesterday.

The SNP is demanding that in return for potentially propping up Ed Miliband in the event of a hung Parliament, the retirement age should be frozen – a move which would cost billions of pounds.

Miss Sturgeon claimed that raising the retirement age would be unfair on pensioners in Scotland as they don’t, on average, live as long as their counterparts in other regions of the UK.

Parts of Scotland have some of the lowest UK life expectancies. In 2008, men in the Calton area of Glasgow lived for an average of just 54 years.

Across Scotland the figure is about 76 for men and 80 for women. In England and Wales life expectancy is nearly 79 for men and 83 for women. Various studies have linked lower life expectancy in Scotland to higher rates of alcohol consumption, smoking and poor diet.

Speaking on a visit to a care home in East Dunbartonshire, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘It would be completely unacceptable for people in Scotland who have paid in to a state pension all of their lives to lose out. That is why SNP MPs will reject any plans for a further increase in the state pension age.’

She said the SNP would ensure that ‘the contribution older people have made throughout their lives is recognised’ if they hold the balance of power after the election. Miss Sturgeon also demanded an inflation-busting flat-rate pension increase, claiming that it should increase from £113 a week to ‘at least’ £160.

For many years, the UK state pension age was 65 for men and 60 for women.

But from 2020, both men and women’s retirement age will be 66, increasing to 67 between 2026 and 2028, and then linked to life expectancy after that.

During last year’s referendum campaign, the SNP claimed the level should only increase to 66 in Scotland, because a lower life expectancy means pensioners lose out on between £10,000 and £11,000.

Yesterday a Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Capping the state pension age in Scotland will cost hardworking taxpayers across Britain more than £12.5billion.

‘This gives another glimpse into a future with Ed Miliband as Prime Minister in the SNP’s pocket – meaning more borrowing, more spending and more debt than our children could ever hope to repay.’