Swinney has ‘nothing to explain’ over accusations of misleading Holyrood

First Minister John Swinney said he has “nothing to explain” following accusations he misled Holyrood over claims about the UK Government’s pensions reform.

Andy Burnham announced he would drop the earnings element of the triple lock on pensions from 2030, meaning payments to pensioners will increase by either the rate of inflation or 2.5% annually, with the saving to fund the reform of social care in England.

The decision drew the ire of Mr Swinney, who claimed pensions would be £4 billion lower in Scotland by 2050 than they would have been if the triple lock remained in place.

The Government said the figure came from a projected population share of the savings made at a UK level, though the estimate did not take into account consequentials which would come to Scotland as a result of the increased spending in social care.

The Prime Minister announced the move last week (Peter Byrne/PA)

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The First Minister was accused of misleading parliament by Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay during an exchange where he said people in Scotland would “lose our pensions”.

The Tory leader said the comment was “inaccurate and irresponsible”, and was “inevitably causing concern to Scottish pensioners”.

Speaking to the Press Association during an event in Perth and Kinross on Monday, the First Minister said: “I’ve got nothing to explain to Parliament about this issue.

“Scottish pensioners were led to believe there was a triple lock going to be in place and that gave them legitimate expectations about the level of their pension.

“They’re going to lose out on that because Andy Burnham is removing the triple lock.

“That’s the hard reality that pensioners in Scotland are having to face up to, having been promised in 2014 that their pensions were safe.

Russell Findlay described John Swinney’s comments as ‘irresponsible’ (Jacob King/PA)

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“Their pensions have been undermined by the Labour Government.”

Pressed on the changes not meaning Scots will “lose” their pensions, as he suggested to Mr Findlay, the First Minister said: “The Treasury have set out the amount by which pensions will not increase, the amount by which people will lose out in the years to come.

“That’s what I’ve set out to Parliament.

“Now, if people don’t like the uncomfortable reality of removing the triple lock and undermining the pension and the legitimate expectations that were raised by the No campaign in 2014 – pensions would increase by a certain amount over the course of the future if people voted no – that’s the hard reality I’m pointing out to people in Scotland today.”

Pushed on the potential for an increase in funding through Barnett consequentials as a result of more spending on social care in England, the First Minister said he cannot be so sure.

“None of us can foresee what the implications of these changes will be for the block grant in Scotland, because we’ve seen in recent years the block grant being reduced because of negative consequences,” he said.

“Nobody can tell me that that money is going to result in a rise in the Scottish Government’s budget.”