Reform ‘will go very tough’ on slashing welfare bill in bid to extend triple lock
Reform’s Treasury Spokesperson & MP for Newark said his party is “on the side of alarm clock Britain” and not “the side of people who are choosing to be out of work”.
Reform UK is going to be “very tough” as it slashes the country’s welfare spending in efforts to fund the triple lock, Robert Jenrick has told LBC.
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Speaking to LBC’s Iain Dale on Friday, Reform’s Treasury Spokesperson & MP for Newark said his party is “on the side of alarm clock Britain” and not “the side of people who are choosing to be out of work.”
“We're going to be very, very tough on that and bear down on the welfare bill,” Mr Jenrick said.
The former Tory, who defected to Reform in February, pointed out that his new party has “already set out some very significant savings” as it moves to bring welfare spending down.
That includes making it impossible to claim benefits for mild anxiety and other “mental health claims where people really should be in work”, he told Iain.
It comes as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party will be able to commit to extending the triple lock if it can bring the welfare bill down.
The triple lock sees the state pension benefit increase in line with either inflation, average wage growth, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is greater.
Read more: Farage set to guarantee triple-lock on pensions despite critics calling policy unaffordable
Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Farage pledged: “Under a Reform UK government your state pension will always go up each year in line with inflation, wage increases or by 2.5 per cent – whichever is the highest.
“Critics, of course, will wring their hands about affordability.
"They say it's too expensive and unsustainable. But what they really mean is that they would rather break a promise to pensioners than make tough decisions elsewhere.”
He added: “I take a different view. If we are serious about funding the triple lock, we must be equally serious about getting our priorities straight. That starts with cutting waste. Take a look around and you will see there is plenty of it.”
However, Mr Farage has previously questioned the policy, which was introduced by the Conservatives in 2010.
When asked about his views on the triple lock earlier this year, Mr Farage said: “I haven’t changed my mind. It’s open for debate. Everything is open for debate.”
The move would also contradict Reform's Richard Tice, who admitted his party would not guarantee the triple lock on pensions when speaking to LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr last year.
Mr Tice told Andrew: "On a number of occasions, Nigel has clearly said that we're not guaranteeing the triple lock. The nation's finances are in serious trouble and nothing's affordable.
"That's what we've said before and we continue to say that we can't guarantee it because we know the nation's finances are in a shocking state.
"We'd all love to be able to pay as much as possible. We can only know where we're at when we start to make major savings as we've talked about. But we're not guaranteeing the triple lock."