Kemi Badenoch opens door to pensions triple lock change in future - as she says 'as of now' no change
29 April 2025, 11:00
Kemi Badenoch has opened the door to changing the triple lock in future - but says "as of now" there's "no change".
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The Tory leader insisted that it has "always" been a Conservative policy and she has "not changed that".
Yet Ms Badenoch's comments suggest that she will be looking at it and other areas as part of the party's policy reset.
The Tory leader spoke to LBC's Iain Dale last night, ahead of the local elections on Thursday.
The triple lock guarantee - introduced under Tory Chancellor George Osborne - promises that pensions will rise in line with average pay, inflation, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is greater.
However, with spiralling inflation and pay deals in recent years, experts say it's unsustainable to keep in the long term.
It comes after her last LBC phone-in sparked concern that she wanted to change the pensions triple lock.
She had said she wanted to "properly" look at means testing welfare payments - saying there's no effective system to decide who gets what.
Ms Badenoch said in response to a question about pensions and the triple lock: "We are going to look at means testing... It's something which we don't properly do here."
She told LBC last night that "as of now there's no change" on the triple lock - and suggested her previous comments had been misinterpreted.
Ms Badenoch said: "It's always been Conservative policy to have the triple lock. I have not changed that.
"When we change policy, I have a big speech like on net zero, and I announce it.
"We have to look across the board at so many things. Let's do the detailed work. But as of now, no there's no change to the triple lock."
But Labour accused her of putting pensioners on notice and of "reopening the door" to changes.
A Labour Party Spokesperson said: "Kemi Badenoch couldn't be clearer: under her Conservative Party, the door is open when it comes to cutting the state pension.
"The Conservatives haven’t listened and they haven't learned. They’re refusing to stand up for pensioners and would leave them worse off.
"The Labour Government has protected the pensions triple lock to give pensioners the security they deserve. Only Labour’s Plan for Change is delivering the security older generations deserve."
Other Tories have called on the leadership to look again at pensions as part of their reset of policy.
Former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, said it was time to "move away" from it.
He told the BBC: "It puts an extra burden on taxpayers in the working system. So, I always felt you should move them maybe to a double lock or something rather than a triple lock all the way through.
"But the government didn't want to do that."
He was asked: "Your advice to Kemi Badenoch. Should she look again at the triple lock?"
Sir Iain replied: "I think she should. But I think you know looking at politics right now I don't see any party coming forward with a view that says they're going to take it off.
"The trouble is it really does put pressure on costs. And you'll see that the biggest cost of all to welfare is pensioners."
The UK government spent approximately £125 billion on state pensions in 2023-2024.
As of April, the full rate of the new State Pension will be £230.25 per week.
