First Minister John Swinney has said Andy Burnham is “repeating the mistakes of Keir Starmer” as the Prime Minister confirmed reform to the pensions triple lock.
Speaking to journalists in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Swinney said he thought Mr Burnham was “getting off on the wrong footing” by removing the pensions triple lock.
Triple lock removal criticised
In his first Labour party conference speech as Prime Minister, Mr Burnham confirmed he wants to end the pensions triple lock, which guarantees increases in line with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5%, in order to free up cash to fund his long-held ambition of creating a NHS-style care service in England.
Mr Swinney said: “We have provided free personal care for the elderly here in Scotland without punishing pensioners and what the Prime Minister was doing was repeating the mistakes of Keir Starmer.
“The first act of Keir Starmer was to take away winter fuel payments from pensioners, and now the first act of Andy Burnham was to take away the triple lock from pensioners.
“It’s a strange way to go about trying to build support for significant reforms and I think on the basis of the mistakes made by Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham is going the same way.”
National care service plans
Setting out his plans for a new national care service, Mr Burnham said he wanted to build a “national consensus” around plans being drawn up following a consultation by Baroness Louise Casey.
“I accept I may pay a political price,” he said.
“But someone has to go through the pain barrier and rip the plaster off.”
Under the plan, the state pension would rise in line with inflation or 2.5% from 2030, breaking the triple lock’s automatic link with increases in average earnings.
But officials insisted it will also rise by more than this if needed in some years, to ensure it holds its value relative to earnings.
Mr Burnham said: “This change will generate significant savings which we will use to build up our national care service.”
Political reactions
Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra praised Mr Burnham for tackling “difficult issues” in his conference speech.
He said: “Andy is right to have honest conversations about the difficult issues and not avoid them like politicians usually do. We have the courage to fix the big problem and have people’s backs.
He continued: “The plan Andy has laid out today will deliver a huge funding boost for the Scottish Government budget that needs to deliver better outcomes for people.”
Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander also praised Mr Burham’s speech as he said the Prime Minister has set out “determination” to tackle “the big challenges”.
He said: “Andy Burnham started his premiership by committing to end rough sleeping and today he has set out his determination to tackle the big challenges that have held people back for too long with greater public control and a new social contract.”
