‘ Tory trickery’ slammed as 550,000

that Theresa May and Ruth Davidson kept this under wraps until after the election – as this would have undoubtedly lost them seats.

“A great number of people in Scotland in their late thirties and forties will already be planning for their retirement; the fact that they will be forced to wait another year for their state pension is a major blow.”

The pension age will rise from 67 to 68 between 2037 and 2039, not starting in 2044 as had previously been expected.

The change affects 39 to 47- year- olds born between April 6, 1970 and April 5, 1978.

The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) has said the savings will be worth £ 74bn to the public purse by the mid- 2040s, while asking people to work an extra year will also add 1% to Gross Domestic Product.

The argument that the changes reflect growing life expectancy have been questioned by some, including former Government health adviser Si r Mi c h a e l Marmot, who warned the trend towards longer lives was “pretty close to having ground to a halt” since 2010, after rising constantly since the Second World War.

Government actuaries have forecast that the pension age will need to rise to 70 by the mid-2050s