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Kemi Badenoch has acknowledged that committing to reinstate the pension triple lock would prove “difficult” should Labour decide to alter or abolish it.
Although the Conservative leader insisted that maintaining the mechanism remains official party policy, she declined to promise the repeal of any legislation dismantling it in its present form.
Under proposals put forward by prime minister Andy Burnham, the triple lock’s automatic connection to average earnings growth will be severed from 2030, with savings redirected to fund a social care service.
Under Mr Burnham’s plans, state pensions would instead increase annually by at least CPI (Consumer Prices Index) inflation or 2.5 per cent.
During an interview on Times Radio on Tuesday, Mrs Badenoch was asked whether her party would undo Labour’s changes if returned to government.
She said: “I have said that the triple lock is our policy and it remains our policy. I don’t think going after pensioners is the right thing when there are loads of people who can work, who won’t work.”
She added: “When we are going to reverse Labour’s policies, I say we are going to reverse their policies.
“I have said that we are keeping this policy, but if they take that money and they spend it on something that we can’t get it back from, then it would be difficult for me.
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“What I’m not going to do is lie to your listeners just so I can get votes. I tell the truth and I say the triple lock is our policy and we’re keeping it.
“But what I’m not going to do is to say something when I don’t know what the situation would be about what Labour has done with that money. We have to be very careful.”
The change, saving £15bn per year by 2040, would not come in until after 2030 and will likely be key in the battleground for the next election.
Modelling shows it could leave the state pension £5,400-a-year lower in 20 years, at £25,029 compared to the £31,571 it would have risen to under the current policy.
The prime minister said the mechanism would be “adjusted” to help pay for his ambitious plans for a new, free social care system.
