LABOUR PLANS PUSH 67,000 INTO POVERTY

LABOUR PLANS PUSH 67,000 INTO POVERTY

The SNP will today speak out against Labour plans to scrap attendance allowance for nearly 170,000 elderly and disabled Scots.

The plans, announced by Gordon Brown, will see attendance allowance scrapped to fund a National Care Service in England with no consideration of Scottish pensioners.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Institute for Social and Economic Research show that 167,940 people in Scotland receive attendance allowance. Independent research by ISER shows that removing attendance allowance would push 40% of those people into poverty or 67,000 Scots.

In addition to removing attendance allowance Scotland’s carers could also be affected. Receipt of AA by the disabled person is one of the grounds for receipt of Carer’s Allowance by the carer and its removal could affect 46,300 carers in Scotland.

The proposals have been opposed by Age Concern, Help the Aged, Royal National Institute for the Blind, MacMillan Cancer Support and Leonard Cheshire Disability and a petition on the Downing Street website has attracted 23,705 signatures.

Commenting ahead of a Scottish Government debate on the issue SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said:

“Labour’s plans ignore Scotland completely. This proposal is entirely focussed on England with no attention paid to the consequences in Scotland.

“It is inconceivable that instead of tackling poverty Labour are planning to push 67,000 Scots – some of our most vulnerable residents – into poverty and remove funding from a further 100,000.

“This is a clear sign of how little the UK Government considers its impact on Scotland and in particular on vulnerable Scots.

“Attendance Allowance offers essential support to many of Scotland’s elderly and disabled residents and helps Scotland’s carers. To get rid of this valuable benefit would be a hammer blow to elderly and disabled Scots.

“Without Attendance Allowance more elderly people would be forced out of their homes into the care system instead of living independently in their homes.

“Labour in the Scottish Parliament have tried to deny that this is happening, when everyone knows this cut is a reality. Today we will see whether Labour MSPs care more for their party than they do for Scotland’s pensioners.”