Liz Truss has said she is “completely committed” to the pensions triple lock at a make-or-break PMQs in the Commons on Wednesday.
That means state pensions should rise in line with inflation – currently running at a rate of 10.1%.
Ms Truss made the commitment in the Commons despite new chancellor Jeremy Hunt explicitly ruling out committing to any pledges, including the triple lock, ahead of 31 October when he will announce a medium-term fiscal plan.
But asked by the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford if she would break the triple lock promise, Ms Truss appeared to overrule Mr Hunt and committed to the policy.
“We have been clear in our manifesto that we will maintain a triple lock and I am completely committed to it, and so is the chancellor” she told the Commons.
Ms Truss’ spokesman then confirmed the PM and the chancellor had agreed their position on the triple lock today, despite Mr Hunt promising no new commitments just 24 hours ago.
The triple lock was introduced on state pensions in 2010 by David Cameron’s coalition government and guarantees pensions will not lose value in real terms by increasing by the greatest of these three:
- Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI
- 2.5%
- or the average wage increase.
In the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto, it said it would keep the triple lock in place but that was suspended during the pandemic due to the unusually large rise in average earnings after the government’s furlough scheme ended.
The government earlier this year pledged to restore the triple lock from April 2023 but after Ms Truss’ many U-turns on Monday this was in question.
Just hours before PMQs, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly refused to commit to the triple lock when asked by Sky News.
And shortly after PMQs finished Tory MPs started tweeting out a graphic that says: “Triple lock, triple lock, triple lock – PROTECTED.”
Today’s PMQs was the first since new chancellor Jeremy Hunt performed U-turns on Monday on almost all of the tax cuts announced in the mini-budget three weeks before.
It is also only Ms Truss’s third time facing opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer across the despatch box since becoming PM in early September.
The government’s position on several points have changed after Kwasi Kwarteng was sacked as chancellor and Mr Hunt replaced him, proceeding to ditch most of Ms Truss’ campaign pledges after the markets reacted badly to the mini-budget.
A growing number of Tory MPs and members are now clamouring for Ms Truss to resign over the crisis as they fear she will not be able to successfully lead them through a general election.