Liz Kendall, UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, wrote today to reveal this, for the UK as a whole:
An extra 450 000 UK pensioners pushed into poverty by 2030 means around 40 000 in Scotland.
From the Herald on 1 August 2024, only one month after the General Election:
From the National Records of Scotland in 2019:
The association between mortality and low indoor temperature observed by the Eurowinter Group was also found by Wilkinson (2001) in a study on excess winter deaths in England. This used postcodes to link data on characteristics of over 21,000 houses (in 1991) with the records of around 180,000 deaths (between 1986 and 1996). The study concluded that winter-summer differences in mortality were related to indoor temperature, and to dwelling characteristics that affected it. Indoor temperatures appeared to influence the strength of association between low outdoor temperatures and cardiovascular death. People living in colder houses had a substantially larger seasonal swing in death rates and a greater percentage rise in mortality for each degree Celsius fall in outdoor temperature. In a Scottish study, Gemmell et al (2000) concluded that the strength of the relationship between temperature and mortality was a result of the population being unable to protect themselves adequately from the effects of temperature rather than the effects of temperature itself. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/winter-mortality/2019/iwm-background-2018-19.pdf
We’ll see later in 2025, how many more Scots pensioners die after a winter with no winter fuel allowance. The excess will be largely due to the efforts of Kendall, her leader and the failure of the 37 Scottish Labour MPs to stand up for their older constituents.
From the Conversation in 2013:
Chilly temperatures help cancers grow – At low temperatures the human body has a hard time. As the cold sets in, blood vessels constrict to maintain heat and some body parts – like fingers and toes – begin to suffer. Metabolism ramps up to fight the cold and shivering sets in. As these conditions continue, everything becomes sluggish as the cells of your body do not work as well. The body enters a state of thermal stress and only the most vital systems, like the brain, are left switched on.
Now, in a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Elizabeth Repasky at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in the US and colleagues suggest that cold has yet another disadvantage – it changes the way cancer cells grow and spread.
From the Guardian last week:
Liz Kendall has become the first cabinet minister to confirm she will vote for the assisted dying bill since it was published, as the row intensified over the proposed law change.
Talking-up Scotland 
We ddon’t need to wait till next winter, even with the Winter Fuel Payment the soaring cost of heating homes has already caused many many homes to substantially reduce indoor temperatures in the expectation that prices are going to rise with government control over fuel prices now just another revenue raising ploy.
We are paying inflated prices, set by a government agency, for our fuel in the UK so that the government can boast that it is imposing a windfall tax on energy suppliers.
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The reason a winter fuel payment is needed in Scotland is because england steal our oil and gas and electricity england has made deals with the big oil gas and electric companies in which these companies pay england huge amounts of money year after year for Scotlands oil gas and electricity and england then force us in Scotland to pay the world market price to buy back whatever oil gas and electricity we use , Scotland being where it is , is a cold place the people need heating nearly every month of the year and because Scotland is also a large country for its 5 million population we spend a lot on petrol for travel and transporting of goods and services.If Scotland was independent we would not be in this position , england treats us like the ugly sister , we will surely get our revenge one day.
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The SNP Scottish Gov just need to reinstate the winter fuel payment. Job done. Another amazing victory. To keep people in Scotland warm and increase life expectancy. Save healthcare and social care costs. More elderly as a proportion of the population.
People who support Independence need to stop voting unionist. There is a better way. Vote for Independence supporting Parties. Vote out the Unionists. A few more marches and support.
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It hurts me every day thinking about poor people in Scotland in a cold draughty poorly insulated house or flat with windows through which you feel the cold, they cant afford to put their central heating on because of the high cost because of the inaccurate nature of knowing their fuel usage so they resort to electric plug in heaters that only blow hot air or dont use heating at all.They dont have warm carpets on the floor or warm duvets on their beds .Visiting better off friends or relatives to get a bit of comfort in a house with heating maybe a cup of tea a biscuit we hear of stories where the only heating some children feel each day is in their school or nursery .Poor people cant afford warm clothing either , hats gloves scarves too expensive , instead you will see them in the same clothing they wore in the summer as much of it worn all at once as is possible.They cant afford washing powder often dont have working washing machines and no hot water to handwash and no warm house to dry them if they did , so clothes dont get washed .Poor people cant afford good food every day its so expensive , they miss meals hope friends and relatives offer them something when they visit ,bodies cant heat themselves without food so they get colder still.This current spell of freezing cold day after day is a cruel dickensian punishment meted out to the poor by an english government in westminster full of the most wasteful despicable fools you could hope to find i would love to lock them in that place for a month turn the heating and gas and electricity off and watch them suffer the cold and hunger til they drop to their knees andask to be forgiven.
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Scotland in surpus in fuel and energy and nearer the source. Pays more. No parity. Vote for Independence Parties and vote for Independence.For lower fuel and energy costs. Instead of being conned out of it. A burden on the whole economy.
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Scots ? Scots pensioners ? Too cold and dying ? As an English General said before of Scots , ” It’s no great mischief if they fall ! ”
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It’s no great mischief if they fall….on the ice
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