Politics latest news: Temporarily cut triple lock to fund tax cuts, George Osborne suggests

George Osborne suggested the Government could temporarily water down the triple lock to fund tax cuts or more spending on public services amid a growing debate about the future of the state pension guarantee. 

The triple lock is a key Tory pledge that ensures the state pension rises by the highest of three metrics: average earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent.

In the past, average earnings have always been calculated using the figure for wages plus bonuses but the Treasury is understood to be considering stripping out the impact of bonuses in a move which would mean a smaller than expected increase for pensioners next April. 

Mr Osborne said if he were chancellor today he would be “very tempted to under-rate, i.e. not increase pensions by as much as the triple lock and other benefits, working age benefits that go to other people in society, by maybe like one or two per cent”.

The former chancellor told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme: “It saves a lot of money for the Treasury at a time when things are really tight, you could put some more money into public services, if you wanted to cut taxes you could do it, or certainly avoid tax rises which otherwise are coming. 

“So it is quite an obvious target there for the Treasury. I am sure they are thinking about it a lot. There is a precedent, it was done once during the pandemic…”

His comments came after Mel Stride, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the triple lock was “not sustainable” in the long term. Both the Tories and Labour have failed to commit to keeping the policy in their next manifestos.

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