Truss no longer committed to maintaining triple lock on pensions, No 10 says
Liz Truss is no longer publicly committed to defending the triple lock – the guarantee that the state pension will rise every year in line with inflation, earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is highest. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives said they would “keep the triple lock” and in interviews only two weeks ago, during the party conference, Truss confirmed that she was still “committed” to it.
Not any more. At the Downing Street lobby briefing after cabinet, the PM’s spokesperson refused to say that Truss still feels bound by this. He did not say it would definitely go, but he clearly signalled that it is up for negotiation. Asked if Truss was still committed to the triple lock, he replied:
We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are. And, indeed, our priority ahead of this fiscal plan will be to ensure we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.
The chancellor has been clear, the prime minister and the chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point.
But, as I say, the decisions will be seen through the prism of both what matters most to the most vulnerable …
[The PM’s] view, and the chancellor’s view, is that at this point it is not right to start pre-empting a collective piece of work which needs to be carried out across government on all spending.
Although the spokesperson said the commitment to the triple lock no longer applies, he said Truss was still committed to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has signalled he would resign if Truss were to abandon that pledge.
Asked why Truss would not commit to the triple lock, but would commit to raising defence spending, the spokesperson said that the defence pledge related to 2030, and that it had been made in the context of the war in Ukraine and the UK’s membership of Nato.
The questions about the triple lock were triggered by comments that Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor, made in the Commons yesterday. Downing Street echoed the language used by Hunt, who told MPs:
I am very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are, and of the importance of the triple lock. As I said earlier, I am not making any commitments on any individual policy areas, but every decision we take will be taken through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.
With the inflation rate for September expected to be around 10%, keeping the triple lock would see pensions rise by that amount for 2023-24. With Hunt looking for savings in all areas of government spending, it is not hard to see why abandoning it for a year might be tempting.
Last year the triple lock was suspended for 2022-23 because Covid led to a freak 8% rise in earnings, as wages soared back up after the end of lockdown. Ministers argued that it would be unreasonable to give pensioners 8% because of distortions in the labour market, and instead a “double lock” was imposed, with pensioners guaranteed a rise in line with inflation or 2.5%.
But the government had said the triple lock would apply again for 2023-24.
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The former cabinet minister, who backed Rishi Sunak in the summer, also warned Britons to expect “a hell of a lot of pain in the next two months” due to the economic situation.
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At a private event, Gove was asked whether it was “no longer a question of whether Truss goes, but when she goes”. He agreed that was “absolutely…