THE former UK minister cited by Nicola Sturgeon in her defence in the row over pensions and independence has said his previous comments on the issue are no longer relevant.

The First Minister last week quoted testimony that Sir Steve Webb gave to MPs in 2014 as she insisted the state pension would be the same value or better in an independent Scotland.

However Sir Steve told the Herald that “semantic analysis” of what he said then was “neither here nor there”.

Instead, it was “for today’s politicians on each side to set out their stall”.

The remarks are awkward for Ms Sturgeon and the Scottish Government given the reliance they have placed on Sir Steve’s testimony in recent days.

The SNP has been under pressure since Westminster leader Ian Blackford ignited a row over who would meet the cost of state pensions after a Yes vote.

The White Paper on independence given to voters before the 2014 referendum said that, for existing pensioners the responsibility for paying their state pension would “transfer to the Scottish Government”.

However in an interview with ITV Border last week, Mr Blackford suggested it would be an ongoing obligation for the UK, as Scots who had paid their UK national insurance had accumulated the right to a UK pension.

“You pay into a national insurance fund. Ok, the UK is then responsible for the disbursements of that, and it covers cash flow for a certain period, but that’s a right to a UK pension - there’s no ifs, there’s no buts about that,” he said.

Ms Sturgeon then said people with “accumulated rights would continue to receive the current levels of state pension in an independent Scotland”.

She told FMQs: “The key point for those who are in receipt of pensions is what the UK Government minister for pensions at the time, Steve Webb, confirmed: that people with accumulated rights would continue to receive the current levels of state pension in an independent Scotland.”

The reference was to oral evidence Sir Steve, then a Liberal Democrat pensions minister in the Coalition, gave to the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee in May 2014.

Asked if Scots would get the same pension as those in the UK after independence, he said: “Yes. They have accumulated rights in the UK system, under the UK system’s rules.”

However he also said that how those accumulated rights would be valued and transferred to an independent Scotland would be subject to a negotiation and remained unclear.

READ MORE: SNP leadership accused of 'misleading Scots' over pensions and independence

He also added in a later letter that Scots would expect their government to take on “full responsibility for paying pensions to people in Scotland including where liabilities had arisen before independence”.

He went on: “Similarly people in the rest of the UK would not be expecting to guarantee or underwrite the pensions of those living in what would then have become a separate country.

“The security and sustainability of pensions being paid to people in Scotland would, therefore, depend on the ability of Scottish tax payers to fund them.”

Ms Sturgeon did not mention the clarification in her statement to MSPs.

Sir Steve, now a partner at pensions experts Lane, Clark & Peacock, said his comments should not be taken as the last word on the issue.

He said: “My Twitter went mad... with vitriol on both sides and everyone picking bits and pieces of what I may or may not have said seven years ago to justify their case.

“My view is it’s for today’s politicians on each side to set out their stall and for the people of Scotland to decide.

“Semantic analysis of what I said seven years ago is kind of neither here nor there really. Guy Opperman, the [UK] pensions minister, has said something this weekend, I believe.

“There was oral evidence and a subsequent letter and I don’t think it would be any good for my sanity or anything else to add to that.”

On Sunday, Mr Opperman, accused Mr Blackford and Ms Sturgeon of “misleading Scots” on pensions.

He said: “If Scotland chooses to become a foreign country, then working English, Welsh and Northern Irish taxpayers should not pay for a foreign country’s pension liabilities. That has been the position of the UK Government since before the 2014 referendum. Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford are, once again, misleading Scots.”

An SNP spokesperson said: “The UK Government said in 2014 that after independence people would still be entitled to the pension contributions they had made to the UK system.

“However, independence will give us the chance to provide better pensions than currently available, given that the UK has a state pension provision lag ging behind many developed nations.”