Scrapping the pension triple lock would be bad news for pensioners – and the Tories

The wrangling over key policy areas in the upcoming general election has begun in earnest. If you’re already tired of the political argy-bargy, don’t worry, there’s only, ahem, six weeks to go. Stay with me though, because there’s one topic in the personal finance arena that really, really matters. The triple lock state pension guarantee. With the Prime Minister understood to be considering replacing the triple lock with a less generous double lock, and the Labour Party on record saying it will keep the triple lock until 2025, this issue goes to the heart of the parties’ attitude to pensioners. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats said in their 2015 manifesto that it should be written into law. What is it? Introduced by the coalition government seven years ago, the triple lock is a guarantee to increase the state pension every year by the higher of inflation, average earnings or a minimum of 2.5 per cent. It was launched to protect pensioners from meaningless increases, such as the much-derided 75p a week rise in 2000, and to make sure their income was not eroded by the gradual increase in the cost of living.