Gap between labour and socialism widens as labour praise tories

 It is a sad day when the Labour Party are praising a Tory pensions and welfare system that is being dismantled before our eyes, so says Bob Thompson, former Labour chairman states-


 no wonder over a third of Labour voters already plan to vote Yes in September, because we can deliver a better deal for older people and a genuine welfare state in an independent Scotland.

'It is extraordinary that Labour are describing as secure a UK welfare system which is cutting £6 billion  from welfare support in Scotland, directly cutting benefits to women, children, disabled people and poorer pensioners and which will mean that an additional 100,000 children could be in poverty by 2020 according to the Child Poverty Action Group.

'Margaret Curran herself has called the Tory welfare cuts "brutal" which will cause "misery for families across Scotland" - yet the Labour leadership prefer Tory government in Scotland to self-government with independence.

The outlook under the Westminster system is a generation of austerity, compared to the opportunity to build a new prosperity in Scotland by voting Yes.

'What Margaret Curran and Jackie Baillie are saying is meaningless and wrong. Pensions will be paid on time and in full in an independent Scotland, triple-locked to at least keep pace with the cost of living, and we will also have the powers to review Westminster's unfair plans to increase the age when people get the state pension. '

That's why the Scottish Social Attitudes survey shows that 63 per cent of people want pensions policy to be decided in Scotland, not by Westminster. In standing with the Tories on cuts to pensions and welfare, Labour are standing against the people. 'Scotland has generated more tax per head than the UK as a whole in every one of the last 33 years - to the tune of £800 per head extra in 2012/13.'The reality is that spending on welfare, including pensions, is more affordable for Scotland than for the UK as a whole - and indeed spending per head on the state pension is lower in Scotland than in the UK. The figures show that 38 per cent of Scottish tax revenues are spent on social protection, including pensions, compared to 42 per cent for the UK as a whole.'And Westminster has cut spending on pension credit per head - support for poorer pensioners - by 20 per cent since 2010. That’s a dismal record and one that will not be tolerated after a Yes vote in September.