DUE largely to the sheer amount of misinformation, not to mention downright lies, spread by the Better Together campaign before the first independence referendum in 2014, pensions became an issue much discussed before the vote.

Research afterwards showed that the scare stories spread by the Unionists had worked, and many senior citizens cited uncertainty over pensions as a reason for voting No.

Now Yes Perth has decided to tackle the issue head-on, and the short film made by member Robert Anderson is a powerful contribution on the side of the independence cause.

Described on YouTube as “an explanation on getting your UK state pension in an independent Scotland and also your Scottish pension”, the video is just around 14 minutes long but manages to pack in a lot of information in a simple format voiced over by Anderson himself.

It starts: “During the 2014 referendum, people who supported the Union openly went round the doors of pensioners and lied that if you became independent, all your contributions to the UK state pension would be lost.”

There’s no doubt that happened. Anderson then goes on to cover several topics – international comparisons with the UK pensions; the threat to the UK pension; will pensions be paid when we are independent? And what could an independent Scotland afford?

Using the 2020 figures, he states: “The state pension in the UK for new people that go into the pension system is £168 per week if you have the proper paid-up annual years of benefit entitling you to the maximum.

“The average annual salary for the UK as a whole is £29,600. The weekly figure multiplied out gives you a maximum pension of £8700.

“Dividing one into the other shows you that the state pension at the moment for the 2020 figures is 29.61% of the average wage.”

Anderson shows how that figure means the UK, on the measurement of the state pension as a percentage of the annual wage, has the lowest pensions in the developed world.

The threat to the UK state pension, says Anderson, comes from the Tory Government wanting to stop the so-called triple lock so they can reduce pensions – they even want to stop calling it the state pension and replace it with the “Retired Welfare Support Payment”. Recovering costs associated with Brexit and Covid is driving the idea of pension reductions.

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Addressing the pension lies told by Better Together, Anderson says: “The truth is that by law you will get your UK state pension contributions in any future independent Scotland.”

After explaining how Scotland is a wealthy country and could be wealthier when independent, Anderson says that after independence, “the SNP has said it would be their intention to pay as quickly as possible a state pension higher than the current UK pension” and more in line, or better than, the average pensions paid in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

“The UK has been declining for over 60 years and as such they have not kept the pension up to date,” says Anderson.

“Scotland has options to grow its wealth higher than what has been done in the past by the UK, make it better for all and sometimes increase in dramatic ways your state pension.

“The future will tell what will happen but the key message is that as an independent Scotland we could afford a state pension higher than the current very poor UK state pension.”

Anderson ends: “All I can guarantee is that you will get a state pension and you will not lose any money in an independent Scotland.”

It’s a simple, straightforward message available on YouTube and to view below.

Yes groups, please copy.