Kerr quiet on pensions

For those lying by the pool on a well-earned holiday or sitting in their house waiting for the rain to go off, summer months can bring the distant dream of our retired years.

Extended trips to the sun, more time with grandchildren or reading those books you’ve never got round to.

Yet for more than 600,000 people throughout Scotland that dream is more distant than ever.

Whilst many were already on a break, arranging childcare over the summer months or just about managing already stretched finances, the UK Government announced their plans to raise the state pension age.

This change will mean that all those currently between the age of 39 and 47 will be forced to work a year longer than before, accessing their state pension entitlement when they reach the age of 68.

As a result more than 10,000 men and women in the Stirling Westminster constituency will be affected.

This move by a Tory government that pledged to stand up for those “just about managing” came more than two months after the deadline of May 7 to announce if they would raise the state pension age.

This proposal was not in the Conservatives’ recent manifesto and, taken with the way that WASPI women have been dealt with, continues to show a complete lack of transparency and respect for pension rights.

As a result Conservative candidates throughout the country, including your new Conservative MP in Stirling, were able to run election campaigns that evaded an honest debate on this issue.

It is therefore no surprise that this announcement is being heavily criticised.

This is yet another unjustified attack on the state pension by a Tory government that claims to stand up for workers whilst simultaneously asking millions of people to work longer to pay for its failing austerity plans.

The latest research on life expectancy, published only days ago, shows that there is no evidential basis for bringing the state pension age further forward.

According to renowned expert Professor Sir Michael Marmot, a century-long rise in life expectancy was “pretty close to having ground to a halt”.

Professor Marmot pointed to 2010 as the turning point, when the Conservative Government began its austerity programme.

That is why Labour wants to take a measured approach, leaving the state pension age at 66 while we review the evidence emerging around life expectancy and healthy life expectancy.

We need to consider how we can best protect those doing demanding jobs and the contributions they have already made.

We know this is just one of the many challenges that face workers throughout Scotland. According to Santander, household bills have risen twice as fast as salaries over the last 10 years.

Gas has risen by 73 per cent, electricity by 72 per cent and water bills by 41 per cent. All of these are significantly higher than inflation, which has rise by 32 per cent. Wages, meanwhile, have only risen by 19 per cent. This is unsustainable.

Meanwhile, according to Scottish Widows, those in their twenties are saddled with twice as much debt, owing on average more than £20,000. 37 per cent have student loans, 21 per cent unpaid credit card bills and 15 per cent other loans that need paid off.

This is why, whilst 80 per cent of 22-29-year-olds are paying into a pension, a staggering 70 per cent of them are not putting enough away each month to reach their desired income for retirement.

Workers need a hand but it is becoming clear that they aren’t getting one from this Conservative government.