• Dividing the nations could mean pension schemes may have to find up to £250bn
Fraser Smart, Managing Director (Europe) of Buck Consultants, comments on Scottish independence and the impact on pension schemes:
"The latest Asterix comic book (‘Asterix and the Picts’) has Asterix and Obelix leaving Gaul (France) and journeying to Scotland to face the fearsome Iron Age inhabitants. Jean-Yves Ferri, the author, said ‘Asterix and the Picts’ was an epic journey into a land of rich traditions and history. As a proud Scotsman, I am hardly going to disagree with that. However, he went on to say there was an allusion to the independence referendum debate showing all the clans divided and uniting. “And it’s a symbol, for Scotland united and free”.
The pro-independence ‘Yes Scotland’ campaign said: “We are animated by an endorsement from such a prestigious character, but, as ever, we would have to check that he is registered to vote.”
Sadly, I see little sign of the clans uniting on the issue of Scottish Independence.
Had I been around in the 13th and 14th century, when the English tried to take Scotland by force (and failed), I would have been very firmly on the winning side. However, England and Scotland have shared a monarch since 1603, when King James VI of Scotland inherited the throne from his distant relative Queen Elizabeth I of England. The Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the English parliament and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the parliament of Scotland joined the countries into a single kingdom of Great Britain. At the time I may have been outraged, but 300 years have passed without us seriously falling out. And while I have great personal respect for our First Minister Alex Salmond, unlike him, I think that we Scots have more to gain by staying in the Union than by leaving it. The value of the total Union in my eyes far outweighs the sums of the respective parts of it.
Even allowing for Scottish oil (whose supply is not endless), there are too many problems associated with divorcing. How do you divide the National Debt or even the armed forces? What does that mean for Scotland in terms of EU membership? And if independence is true independence, we cannot have English sterling as our currency. These are just a few of the more obvious issues.
More specifically for pensions, dividing the nations would by definition create a border. There are vast numbers of defined benefit pension schemes with members in Scotland and in other parts of the United Kingdom. Cross border occupational pension schemes must be fully funded. Pension schemes north and south of that border may suddenly have to find up to £250bn. Also, what about the Pension Protection Fund based in England? The pensions of 16,000 Scots are managed by the PPF and they would be at risk.
No, the Union like many marriages may not be perfect, but it’s far better than the alternative, and it’s survived the passage of time. That will not stop a lot of Scots secretly reading the latest Asterix adventure and laughing at the pictures of Obelix in a kilt, whilst at the same time appreciating – I hope – that it’s only a comic and Scotland is no longer in the Iron Age!"
|
