The Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party (SSCUP), later the All-Scotland Pensioners Party from March 2011, was a Scottish political party. It was formed on 3 February 2003, in time to contest that year's

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

. The leading figure in its formation and its first leader was John Swinburne, previously a director of

Motherwell Football Club Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have l ...

. Swinburne was inspired to form the party after reading the UK government's plans for pensions in December 2002: he felt it was unfair that people might have to work longer in the future and consequently have less time to enjoy their

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

. To fight elections, the SSCUP registered with the UK Electoral Commission and under the provisions of the

Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom. It formed an important ...

, the party also registered alternative names for use on ballot papers, including "Scottish Senior Citizens and Pensioners", and "Alliance of Scots Greys". On the same day the SSCUP was launched, the Scottish Pensioners Party was formed in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...

. The SSCUP made an

electoral pact An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. Ea ...

with this party for the Scottish Parliamentary elections, whereby they did not stand candidates against each other. Former Scottish international footballers

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...

, who played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

and

Eric Caldow Eric Caldow (14 May 1934 – 4 March 2019) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played for Rangers, Stirling Albion and Scotland. Caldow played as a full back and captained both Rangers and Scotland. Early life and career Caldow attende ...

, who played for Rangers, both stood for the SSCUP in these elections. John Swinburne was the SSCUP's sole representative in the Scottish Parliament, representing Central Scotland from 2003 until 2007.

Party aims and elections

The party listed nine key aims on its website:Aims and Manifesto
sscup.org # An index-linked basic weekly

state pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payment ...

of £160 for all

senior citizens Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

# Remove all senior citizens from

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

# Abolition of means-testing for senior citizens # Replace

council tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge, which in turn re ...

with a fairer system based on ability to pay #

Local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

to set up more

residential homes for senior citizens A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...

# Free nationwide travel for all senior citizens - outside peak travelling times # 50% reduction in

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...

s for senior citizens aged 60 to 75 # 50% reduction in

vehicle excise duty Vehicle Excise Duty (VED; also known as "vehicle tax", "car tax", and more controversially as " road tax", and formerly as a "tax disc") is an annual tax that is levied as an excise duty and which must be paid for most types of powered vehicles whi ...

for all senior citizens # Establish a Scottish Lottery, with all profits going back into the community In the 2007 Scottish Election the SSCUP lost its only seat in Holyrood, despite polling as the sixth best party and a slight increase in its vote share. However, that was possibly due to the party putting up more candidates. In 2011 their vote decreased, but they still remained the sixth placed party. The party was de-registered in 2015.

References

{{Defunct political parties in Scotland Political parties established in 2003 Political parties disestablished in 2015 Pensioners' parties Defunct political parties in Scotland 2003 establishments in Scotland 2015 disestablishments in Scotland