Downing Street stands by pension triple lock manifesto pledge
Downing Street has said it will stick by its manifesto pledge to not break the pension triple lock, despite speculation to the contrary.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said today that there were “no plans to abolish the triple lock and we will always stand by pensioners”.
The triple lock, brought in by David Cameron in 2010, ensures that state pensions increase every year by whichever is higher – average wage increases, inflation or 2.5 per cent.
The Financial Times reported today that chancellor Rishi Sunak was considering scrapping the guarantee in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, thereby breaking a 2019 election manifesto pledge.
The Treasury has reportedly warned that keeping the pledge over the next two years could cost billions of pounds as wages are expected to rise after being artificially deflated by the government’s furlough scheme.
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About 9m people are being paid through the scheme, which sees the government pay 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 a month.
The prospect of a major upswing in wages next year would see the cost of the triple lock soar.
This would come after the government’s budget deficit is also expected to hit at least £300bn this year – 12-times more than originally forecast – due to the coronavirus crisis.
Tory backbencher Steve Baker told The Times that the pledge had to be scrapped.
“We can’t afford it,” he said.
“We are looking at the public finances being in a genuinely catastrophic state ‘We are all going to have to make very hard choices.”
A spokesman for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer indicated the party would likely oppose scrapping the pension guarantee.
“We have long said the triple lock is an important means of addressing the relatively low pension by intl standards,” he said.