Tory government would axe ‘unsustainable’ triple lock on pensions, shadow chancellor says
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has suggested a future Conservative government could axe the triple lock on pensions.
In a controversial move that prompted Labour to accuse the Conservatives of betraying pensioners, he said the commitment was unsustainable in the very long term.
Introduced by then-chancellor George Osborne during David Cameron’s coalition government, the triple lock guarantees the state pension rises in line with average earnings, inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest.
That means the current state pension of £221,20 a week will rise by £472 a year from April 2025, in line with the latest growth in wages, which have risen by 4.1%.
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Mr Stride’s highly significant signal of possible pension reforms if the Conservatives win the next election came during a speech and Q&A with political journalists in Westminster.
He was asked about remarks he made when he was Work and Pensions Secretary under Rishi Sunak, when he was reported as saying the triple lock was unsustainable.
He replied: “I’m widely reported as having said, as you phrased it, it’s unsustainable. What I actually said was that in the very, very long term, it is unsustainable. Now that is just a mathematical reality.”
He said the reason for this was that the cost of the state pension would spiral over many decades under the triple lock if it continued indefinitely.
“So the answer to your question, though, is we will be looking at every single aspect, including policies around pensioners and so on, as we go forward,” he continued.
“But – and I think it’s fair to say that as a party we have always stood up for and always worked to protect pensioners.”
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Mel Stride. File pic: AP
Responding to Mr Stride’s latest remarks, a Labour spokesperson said: “Mel Stride has let slip that the Tories are planning to betray pensioners and ditch the triple lock.
“In government, the Tories broke the triple lock and left pensioners worse off. Now they’re planning to do it all over again. The Conservatives haven’t listened and they haven’t learned.
“This Labour government is committed to raising living standards and giving pensioners the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.
“Millions are set to see their state pension rise by up to £1,900 this parliament through our commitment to the triple lock and our Plan for Change means investment and reform to grow the economy to put more money in people’s pockets.”
Politics
Reform UK overtakes Conservative membership – Nigel Farage calls it ‘historic’, Kemi Badenoch says numbers are ‘fake’
Reform UK now has more members than the Conservative Party and is “the real opposition” according to Nigel Farage, while Kemi Badenoch has called his numbers “fake”.
According to a digital counter on the party’s website, Reform UK had gone past 131,690 members – the amount the Conservative Party declared before its leadership election in the autumn – just before midday on Boxing Day.
Mr Farage, party leader and MP for Clacton-on-Sea, hailed the “historic moment” and said on X: “The youngest political party in British politics has just overtaken the oldest political party in the world. Reform UK are now the real opposition.”
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused the party of issuing misleading figures: “Manipulating your own supporters at Xmas eh, Nigel?. It’s not real. It’s a fake… [the website has been] coded to tick up automatically.”
Posting on X, she added that the Tories had “gained thousands of new members since the leadership election”.
Reform UK also shared a video of the membership tracker being projected on to the Conservative Party headquarters in London overnight.
Zia Yusuf, party chairman, also said “history has been made today” and that the Tories’ “centuries-long stranglehold on the centre-right of British politics” has “finally been broken”.
Mr Farage hit back at Ms Badenoch, who strongly contested Reform UK’s figures. He claimed to have proof and posted a screenshot of an online register reportedly showing ‘active memberships’.
“We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership. However, this not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud,” he wrote on X.
Mr Yusuf added to the debate by appearing to goad Ms Badenoch about an audit: “We will gladly invite a Big 4 audit firm to verify our membership numbers on the basis that you do the same.”
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Nigel Farage said Reform UK is ‘now the real opposition’ after the ‘historic moment’. Pic: Reuters
The Conservative party membership figure – shared after Kemi Badenoch was announced as the new leader on 2 November – was the lowest on record and a drop from the 2022 leadership contest, when there were around 172,000 members.
In response, a Conservative Party spokesman said: “Reform has delivered a Labour Government that has cruelly cut winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, put the future of family farming and food security at risk, and launched a devastating raid on jobs which will leave working people paying the price.
“A vote for Reform this coming May is a vote for a Labour council – only the Conservatives can stop this.”
According to research from the House of Commons Library, there is no uniformly recognised definition of party membership and no established method or body to monitor the number of members each political group has.
Reform UK was also originally set up as a limited company, but Mr Farage said he would change the party’s structure to be member-owned in September.
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It comes after Mr Farage offered to help Lord Mandelson, the new ambassador to the US, negotiate with president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
A long-time associate of Mr Trump, he has been seen at several Republican events during and after the presidential election.
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