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.

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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%.

(Image: Colin Mearns)

“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.

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“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.”