The Tory pension minister has dismissed claims the UK would continue to fund Scottish state pensions in the event of independence.
Guy Opperman described statements by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford as “misleading”.
The row was sparked by claims by Blackford who said the UK would have an “obligation’ to fund state pension payments after independence.
His comments were in relation to national insurance contributions already made by Scottish workers.
Sturgeon backed up Blackford: “When Scotland votes for independence, as was the case in 2014, the distribution of existing UK liabilities and assets, including those related to pensions, will be subject to negotiation, and Scotland will fully pay its way in that.”
She also cited former UK Government pensions minister Steve Webb, who said in 2014 that people with accumulated rights would continue to receive the current levels of state pension in an independent Scotland.
Webb later clarified his remarks and current pensions minister Opperman hit out at the Scottish Government.
“If Scotland chooses to become a foreign country, then working English, Welsh and Northern Irish taxpayers should not pay for a foreign country’s pension liabilities. That has been the settled position of the UK Government since before the 2014 referendum," he told the Mail on Sunday.
He added: “Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford are, once again, misleading Scots.”
An SNP spokesman was quoted in the Mail on Sunday: "The UK Government said in 2014 that after independence people would still be entitled to the pension contributions they had made to the UK system.
"However independence will also give us the opportunity to provide significantly better pensions than currently available, given that the UK has a state pension provision lagging behind many other developed nations."
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