Scottish independence: EU will not review pensions directive thus undermining a key plank of SNP’s independence campaign, to vote Yes would endanger your pension, the lack of a work ethic and forward planning shows the real lack of talent in the SNP as party run as a one man band!

Dear All

Have you ever had a flutter on the Euro Lottery?

You stick on £2, a small risk for the chance of a big reward.

As a bet it is very good value.

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond wants you to play the lottery, but instead of sticking up £2, he wants you to bet your job, home, mortgage, pension and savings. If it comes up for taking a massive risk, you get no reward and he keeps the ‘winnings’.

You bet everything, he bets nothing!

Sound fair?

Well, it isn’t, it is an unacceptable risk because he has done nothing to shorten the odds of failure or even give you a sniff at a reward.

You may have noticed I have constantly said that the Scottish independence bid is a massive SNP fraud. How do we know this, no work done, no Scottish Government reform, no local Government reform, the white paper is pulp fiction and there is no vision, assumptions are presented as facts and the calibre of the ‘A TEAM‘  leading it is certainly not A Team.

The whole bid is a shambles of epic proportions, reduced to grudge, grievance and malcontent, the latest piece of bad news is that the SNP are angry and say European leaders may have questions to answer after a pensions ruling which was widely expected to boost the case for independence failed to materialise.

Another plank of the SNP’s strategy has now gone; your pension is now not safe under Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.

The European Commission said it will not review rules which require cross-border pension schemes to be fully funded. This directive is another gift to the unionist camp who sayS Scotland would be faced with a large pension bill if it leaves the UK.

Where’s Plan B for pensions?

Worthwhile checking the white paper for plan B, C, D, E and F!

No!

The SNP keep using assumptions and speculation to press their case, when the whole bid should have been done of the basis of facts. In the SNP the use of lying was too good to pass up; it covered up the cracks of doing no work.

There was some sort of talk running around for some considerable time that the EC was due to relax solvency rules. This relaxation would potentially allowing schemes operating in Scotland and the rest of the UK to continue running a deficit in the event of a Yes vote.

The door on that is now slammed shut.

The Europrean Commission has said it will not review "existing quantitative solvency rules for occupational pension funds" in a directive released today.

Today is Friday, officialdom loves to release bad news on  Friday to spoil your weekend, and this weekend, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon won’t be having  a laugh!

Salmond’s spokesman said:

"If there appears to be a disconnect between what was being briefed heavily just a couple of weeks ago, as you rightly say, and what now appears to be a case you will have to ask the Commission what their reasons for that are."

Grudge, grievance and malcontent, the usual fallback position every time the Alex Salmond Party within the SNP doesn’t get their own way!

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) said the decision to uphold cross-border solvency rules came as a "big surprise".

Life is all about surprises, but the EC said it has consistently maintained the issue was not up for review. Living in hope appears to be going out of fashion.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has previously told pension fund managers that pensions would not be protected in an independent Scotland.

And in don’t have a plan mode, the Scottish Government accused him of "scaremongering in the full knowledge that the EU is on the point of resolving the issue of cross-border pensions".

Who looks like fools now Salmond?

Better Together must love this, today's directive "confirms that cross-border pension schemes must be fully funded".

Labour's shadow pensions minister Gregg McClymont said:

"The EU has today confirmed that Scottish company pension schemes must overnight, if we leave the UK, fill a huge funding black hole. It's now clear beyond doubt that independence puts the pensions of hard working Scots at risk”.

NAPF chief executive Joanne Segars said:

"Today's announcement of a new EU pensions directive has major implications for pension schemes as part of the debate on independence for Scotland. The big surprise is that the EU will continue to require cross-border schemes to be fully funded - a significantly more demanding level of funding than is expected of single-country schemes. The EC had been expected to relax these special cross-border requirements, but it has disappointed many observers by leaving this part of the pensions directive unreformed. The knock-on effect of this is that schemes with members both north and south of the border would become much more expensive to run if Scotland were to vote for independence."

Where’s the A Team to fix this?

Time for a quote:

“My problem is that I have too many talented people and not enough Cabinet positions”!

Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond.

“Rather than 'The A Team' it looked more like 'The GAY Team' in nature”.”

George Laird.

Oh; and George Laird right again about planning!

A European Commission spokeswoman said:

"In his statement in May last year, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said the proposal for a directive would not cover the issue of the solvency of pension funds. He commented that in light of the differing situations in member states regarding retirement products and pension funds, it would be necessary to continue technical work on the issue of solvency."

In trying to spin, Salmond spokesman chose the rather bizarre, route of saying there are still "very strong indications" that the solvency rules remain under review.

Under review doesn’t mean to be changed.

And laughingly said the current European Commission is on the way out, so are Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola sturgeon, it’s just a matter of time.

He added:

"It's not the first European Union directive on pensions. Far from it. It's an updated directive, the point being that these things get updated all the time and presumably doubtless will be updated again in the future”.

And it will still not be in favour of the SNP’s proposals.

"The point still stands that there are very strong indications from Brussels that this issue is being looked at seriously and they are looking at resolving the cross border issue. There's a new Commission taking office in October and we will continue to make the case to the new incoming Commission."

In other words, ‘we are screwed but will still try and sell the lie’ that there is ‘engagement’ happening which is positive. Everything will be alright on the night; this barmy army attitude of denial is the hall mark of the entire debunked campaign for Scottish independence.

Academics will have a field going through the Scottish independence campaign post defeat; the thing to home in on is the complete lack of substance and a work ethic! The issue of stupidity, gross stupidity is another central theme worth exploring along with the serious lack of vision.

Today is a disaster for Alex Salmond; the good news is that it came just in time for the weekend!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University