Key facts
- Andy Burnham will signal willingness to review the pension triple lock.
- The triple lock ensures state pensions increase by inflation, average wage growth, or 2.5%, whichever is highest.
- Burnham intends to use potential savings to fund a national care service.
- Labour's deputy leader Lucy Powell stated the party remains committed to the triple lock.
- Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called the potential move "electoral suicide" and "morally wrong."
Andy Burnham, a prominent figure within the Labour party, is poised to signal his readiness to examine the abolition of the state pension's triple lock. This potential policy shift is intended to generate funds for a national care service. Burnham plans to address the Labour conference, advocating for a more candid approach to political discourse and the resolution of persistent national challenges such as social care.
Sources within the government have indicated that the prime minister may also signal a review of the triple lock policy, though not necessarily a complete removal. However, Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, has strongly opposed the idea, describing it as "electoral suicide" and asserting that it would alienate working-class voters. Graham stated that the triple lock was not mentioned in recent discussions with Burnham and emphasized that a universal care service should be funded through a system where everyone contributes and benefits, rather than by reducing the security of pensioners.