Nicola Sturgeon has pledged the SNP to “protect the interests” of Scottish pensioners at Westminster.
The first minister said the Nationalists will demand no further rises in the state pension age while life expectancy in Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK.
She also vowed the SNP will oppose any attempt to end the winter fuel allowance and press for a retention of the triple lock that ensures the state pension increases in line with earnings, prices or 2.5%, whichever is higher.
At the start of the second week of general election campaigning, Ms Sturgeon re-iterated her referendum pledge for a single-tier pension of at least £160 to lift pensioners out of means tested benefits.
“The Tory/Lib Dem government’s plan to further increase the state pension age is a worry to people across the UK who are planning for their future, but the failure to take Scotland’s specific circumstances into account is particularly unfair,” she said.
“Our comparatively low life expectancy rate is an issue which I will do everything in my power to change but in the meantime it would be completely unacceptable for people in Scotland who have paid in to a state pension all of their lives to lose out.
“That is why SNP MPs will reject any plans for a further increase in the state pension age.
“Our pensioners have contributed hugely to society and are entitled to get a fair deal in their retirement in return.
“A strong team of SNP MPs holding the balance of power will ensure that the contribution older people have made throughout their lives is recognised – and will deliver a new and better deal for pensioners in Scotland.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Sir Malcolm Bruce said the delivery of pension increases and the triple lock by the party had put an end to Labour’s “insulting 75p pension rises”.
“The state pension is worth £950 more than when Lib Dems came into government in 2010,” he said.
“Today Nicola Sturgeon backed the pension triple lock and a single-tier pension. The truth is that the best way to deliver these Lib Dem policies is to vote Lib Dem and the SNP’s full fiscal autonomy plans would put huge pressure on services that older people rely on.”