THE SNP’s adoption of the principle of a wellbeing pension in their manifesto has been welcomed by campaigners who believe it will boost the independence vote.
They point out that the cost of living crisis, coupled with rampant inflation and a state pension system that is not up to scratch has left an estimated 1.7 million pensioners below the poverty line.
Responding to criticism that the state pension was not enough to cover the basic costs of living, the UK Government introduced a “Newly Retired State Pension”, in April 2016.
However, at £221.20 a week, it is still not enough to cover the basic costs of living and only applies to those who retired after that date.
It means that more than 80% of pensioners are still on the old state pension of £169.50 – one of the worst in the developed world. Poorer pensioners can claim means-tested benefits to boost it to £218.15 per week but that is still under the amount calculated by Scotianomics, the wellbeing economy think tank, to cover basic living costs.
The idea of a wellbeing pension would cover the basic costs of living and is calculated at £241.50 per week in 2024 – it’s just enough to live with dignity and no more and the think tank stresses it shouldn’t be the end goal. It is part of the concept of a wellbeing economy based on the needs of the nation rather than neo-liberalism and “trickle-down economics”.
A campaign for a wellbeing pension has been run for several years by grassroots independence movement Believe in Scotland and 10,000 leaflets explaining what it means have been delivered by activists to households across the country.
Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp (below) of Believe in Scotland said polling had shown it could increase the independence vote to more than 60%.
“Several times we have asked the voters if they are in favour of independence and polled around 48% Yes, but when we ask how people would vote if the Scottish Government put a wellbeing economy and paying a wellbeing pension at the heart of their case for independence, it goes to 61-62%, so this is key,” he said.
MacIntyre-Kemp added that it was “significant” that the SNP had adopted the concept in their manifesto.
“Independence activists across Scotland can now look people in the eye and say that an independent Scotland will have better pensions and will end pensioner poverty so that is a significant move,” he said.
“Until now, the SNP have not actually had a policy that says pensions will be raised so this is a breakthrough. I can’t think of another policy that has come from the grassroots independence movement that has had such an impact.
“The current state pension is nowhere near enough to live with dignity. That should be a fundamental baseline but consecutive Westminster governments, both Tory and Labour, have kept pensions low specifically to boost the City of London because if pensions are low, middle-class people buy private pensions,” MacIntyre-Kemp added.
“We need to base our new Wellbeing Economic approach in Scotland on the needs of the people of our nation, not the needs of big corporates in the City of London.”
