Labour MPs are privately urging Andy Burnham to consider ditching the state pension triple lock from the next general election manifesto after top economists warned it risks consuming the UK economy.
Under the triple lock, the state pension rises each year in line with whichever is highest of inflation, wage increases or 2.5 per cent.
But there are growing calls for it to be axed after high inflation in recent years has seen costs balloon to around £146bn a year, accounting for nearly half of welfare spending and more than double the entire defence budget.
Shorts
“From my perspective, the main objective is for Labour not to put it in the next manifesto,” one Labour MP told The i Paper. They suggested the party could use “vaguer wording on delivering dignity and financial security to all old people”, or something similar.
