The former prime minister and MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath warned that the Scottish pension bill will be three times the projected income from North Sea oil revenues in 2016, the year that independence would come into effect should Scotland vote for it in the September referendum.
Mr Brown said: “The whole point of sharing risks and resources across the UK is that it is right and proper that the British welfare state bears the rising costs of Scottish pensions, as the number of old people in Scotland will rise from one million to 1.3 million.
“It makes no sense either to break up the British system of pension payments or to set up a wholly new administrative system, which the department for work and pensions costs at £1bn in the first years.”
Mr Brown made his first intervention in the independence debate at Glasgow University on 22 April on behalf of the Better Together campaign, spearheaded by Alastair Darling, Labour MP for Edinburgh South West and Mr Brown’s former chancellor.
Eilidh Whiteford, a Scottish National Party MSP for Banff & Buchan, said: “Mr Brown is repeating the same economically illiterate claims the Tories and Liberal Democrats made over a year ago. On this backwards logic the UK pensions bill is 25 times the value of its oil and gas, making it impossible for the UK to afford to pay for pensions.
“With independence, we will be able to ensure a fair deal for pensioners with a triple lock on the state pension to keep pace with the cost of living, a review of the pension age to ensure it is right for Scotland’s pensioners and a fair approach to public sector pensions.”
Meanwhile, three Scottish universities and two government agencies - Scottish Enterprise and Visit Scotland - have quit business lobbying organisation the Confederation of British Industry in the past week due to its intention to support the Better Together campaign in the run-up to the referendum.
Adviser
Colin Rodger, managing director of Glasgow-based Alexander Sloan Financial Planning, said: “If we speak generally about the UK’s mounting pension liabilities, the government is undoubtedly taking further steps to address fundamental issues, such as pushing back the state pension age, but I do not believe there is a magic bullet for this problem.”
