Rishi Sunak under pressure to protect pension triple lock – with a growing backlash over Braverman’s return
Rishi Sunak is facing pressure to protect the triple lock on state pensions – and a growing backlash over his decision to reappoint Suella Braverman as home secretary.
The new prime minister has confirmed that a planned Halloween budget will be delayed until 17 November so the latest economic forecasts can be taken into account.
But Downing Street has refused to confirm whether pensions will increase in line with inflation come April, which is running above 10%.
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Conservative MP Maria Caulfield has told Sky News that the lack of a confirmation worries her.
“When the government doesn’t confirm one way or another, the speculation mounts and vacuums are created and people start to worry. I’ve got pensioners who are worried,” she said.
Earlier this month, Ms Caulfield had warned she would not vote to end the triple lock. It means pensions must rise by average earnings, inflation or 2.5% – whichever is highest.
She had tweeted: “Pensioners should not be paying the price for the cost of living crisis whether caused by the war in Ukraine or mini-budgets.”
Speaking to Sophy Ridge, Ms Caulfield expressed hope that the triple lock would be preserved given how Mr Sunak had told PMQs he was standing on the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto.
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How did Sunak get on at first PMQs?
Mr Sunak’s press secretary has said no comment will be made “ahead of any fiscal statements or budgets”, but added: “What I can say is he has shown through his record as chancellor that he will do what’s right and compassionate for the most vulnerable.”
In other developments, former Tory chairman Sir Jake Berry has claimed that Suella Braverman committed “multiple breaches of the ministerial code”.
She was controversially reinstated as home secretary during the PM’s reshuffle – six days after resigning for sending an official document from a personal email account.
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Sunak ‘trounced by Truss who lost to a lettuce’
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has described these allegations as “extraordinary and very serious”, asking the new PM on Twitter: “What security warnings did you ignore when you reappointed the home secretary?”
When asked about Ms Braverman’s return to the Home Office, Maria Caulfield defended her – and told Sky News she had been “very open and honest about it and very quick to react”.
Ms Caulfield went on to argue that it “wasn’t in her gift to be reappointed”.
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Sunak’s busy first day as PM
During PMQs yesterday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Sunak of having done a “grubby deal” with Ms Braverman – a figure popular on the right of the party – in order to secure the keys to Number 10.
In separate developments, the new PM also confirmed that he was reinstating the ban on fracking that Liz Truss had controversially lifted during her brief premiership.
Speaking at the London Press Club Awards last night, newly reappointed Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove declared that “boring is back” following “12 months of turbulence”.
Meanwhile, government appointments continued late into the evening – with the most notable change seeing former transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan demoted to Foreign Office minister.
Mr Sunak also found time to attend a Diwali celebration at 10 Downing Street last night after the Hindu festival of lights earlier this week.
“I will do everything I can in this job to build a Britain where our children and our grandchildren can light their Diyas and look to the future with hope,” he posted on social media afterwards.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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