Will the pensions triple lock survive the election? That’s the question being asked in Westminster after Rishi Sunak refused to commit to keeping it in the next Conservative manifesto. In a press huddle with hacks on his trip back from India, the Prime Minister said: ‘I’m not going to get into our manifesto now but the triple lock has been a long-standing policy for us.’
Sunak will argue that voters ought not to listen to politicians offering easy solutions
This could be read two ways. The first is that the PM simply doesn’t want to get into the game of confirming manifesto commitments as doing so will invite further questions about other policies. The second is that he wants to at least leave open the option of ditching the costly policy.
That cost is back in focus today as new figures suggest the state pension is likely to rise by 8.5 per cent in April.
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