Responding to reports the Government will scrap the Triple Lock pension guarantee as early as next week, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Christine Jardine MP, said: "It would be an outrageous betrayal to millions of pensioners if the Government goes ahead with their plans to scrap the Triple Lock. "The Tories made this promise in their manifesto just two years ago. Clearly that manifesto is no longer worth the paper it was written on. "The Triple Lock is designed to give long-term financial security to pensioners, particularly those living in poverty and therefore rely on the state pension as their only source of income. Under this Government, we could be going back to the dark days of pensions rising by pennies, rather than pounds." |
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Saturday, September 04, 2021
Triple Lock scrap: Outrageous betrayal to millions of pensioners
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It is important to remember the reason why Liberal Democrats insisted on the inclusion of the Triple Lock in the coalition government's programme. As Age Concern explains:
The triple lock, the policy commitment by which the Government raises the State Pension annually in line with the highest of increases in prices, average earnings, or 2.5%, was announced by the Coalition Government in 2010 in recognition that the real value of the basic State Pension had fallen over many years. It applies to the new State Pension for post April 2016 pensioners, and the basic State Pension for older pensioners (but not to other elements of the old State Pension system).
So if millionaire's husband, chancellor Rishi Sunak, insists on abolishing the Triple Lock, the gradual edging up of the UK state pension towards the European norm will be halted.
Apart from the social impact of such a move, the chancellor and the pensions minister should consider the economic aspects. More than most citizens, pensioners spend their money locally. Just when SMEs are struggling to recover from the effects of Covid-19, they are threatened with a cut in their income.
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