[ad_1]
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has refused to commit to increasing pensions in line with inflation, suggesting that the state pensions triple lock is set to be abandoned. The Conservative Party committed to the triple lock in their 2019 manifesto. The mechanism ensures pensions increase by 2.5 percent, average wages or inflation – whichever is higher.
While Mr Cleverly said that the Government does “take manifesto commitments very seriously”, he would not say whether or not the Government plans to match an increase in the state pension with the current rate of inflation.
Inflation reached 10.1 percent earlier this morning, which Mr Cleverly described as being “concerning”.
But he added: “They are similar to – in fact ar significantly lower than inflation figures we are seeing in many other parts of the developed world.
“The chancellor and his team will be using those figures to do their thinking and will be coming up with a full packet of measures, the full details, in just over a week’s time.
“And that’s when the announcement on these will be put in the public domain.”
When pressed on the issue, with presenter Kay Burley reminding Mr Cleverly that a commitment to the pensions triple lock was a manifesto pledge, Mr Cleverly responded: “As I say, we take manifesto commitments very seriously, but what I’m not going to do is preannounce budget measures.
“These figures will be taken into consideration by the Chancellor and his team.
“In a little over a week’s time, he will be making a statement to the house with a full range of financial measures”.
Yesterday, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss hinted that she might axe the triple lock as part of an attempt to cut public spending.
The measure was suspended for the 2022-23 financial year following the Covid pandemic. But Ms Truss vowed to reinstate the policy during the Tory leadership campaign.
But yesterday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman warned that the triple lock could not be guaranteed and was up for review.
He said: “We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners thee are and indeed our priority ahead of this fiscal plan is we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.
“The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point, but as I say the decisions will be made through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.”
The official added: “We are in difficult circumstances.
“And we’ve acknowledged the reasons for why we are in this position both in terms of domestic decisions and international factors.
“And the Chancellor and the Prime Minister are of the view that it’s right to consider all options as a whole, rather than going through individual policies piece by piece.”
Failure to keep the triple lock would mean 12.3million would be hit with a real-terms cut next April.
Pensioners were due to receive a 10 percent rise in the state pension, increasing the weekly payment from £185.15 to just over £200.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt suggested that the country could be plunged into a new period of austerity
[ad_2]
