Labour has called on Kemi Badenoch to support Andy Burnham‘s plan for a national care service, saying the Conservatives should “do better than just opposing for the sake of opposing”.
In a statement issued on the eve of the Conservative conference, Labour Party chair Bridget Phillipson said it was “not too late for the Conservatives and other parties to back Andy’s plan and show that politicians can work together constructively in the national interest”.
Burnham announced the national care service proposal in his Labour conference speech this week, alongside changes to the pension triple lock from April 2030. Labour says this forms part of “a new settlement for older people”.
The triple lock currently guarantees that the state pension rises each year in line with inflation (prices), earnings or by 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest. In his conference speech, Burnham said that from April 2030, the state pension will continue to rise every year “at least by prices, or 2.5%”, and will “hold its value relative to earnings over time, so that pensioners will always share in the rising prosperity of the nation.”
Burnham to change pension triple lock from 2030 to fund National Care Service
The Conservatives have attacked the planned triple lock changes, launching a social media campaign claiming that “Andy Burnham wants to scrap the triple lock”.
Phillipson responded: “The social care crisis has been ignored by Westminster for too long, leaving people without the dignity and security they deserve. Now Andy Burnham has set out a plan to fix it, with a national care service and a new settlement for older people.”
She added: “We don’t expect the Tories to agree with us on everything. We don’t agree with them on everything either. But they can do better than just opposing for the sake of opposing.”
Labour also pointed to past stances taken by senior Conservatives between 2017 and 2026, questioning the triple lock. It named shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat and shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy, Badenoch’s parliamentary private secretaries John Glen and Jack Rankin, and former cabinet ministers including Sir Jeremy Hunt, Sir Mel Stride and Sir Andrew Mitchell.
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Among the comments Labour cited, Tugendhat told the House of Commons in November 2025 that the triple lock was “simply not affordable”, and Mitchell told the i paper that “the triple lock must be reformed”.
Writing in PoliticsHome in June 2026, Gauke said “scrapping the triple lock must be part of the plan”.
Phillipson said: “Senior Tories, and even members of the shadow cabinet, have come out against Kemi Badenoch’s position on the triple lock. It’s time for Kemi Badenoch to show some political courage, take the harder path and work with us to grasp this opportunity to deliver for older people.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said Phillipson had said at the start of the week that scrapping the triple lock “would be engaging in intergenerational warfare”, and claimed Labour’s “union paymasters” had called the changes “morally wrong”.
The spokesperson said: “Andy Burnham’s pension cuts will not even pay for his National Care Service, so families face tax rises and could still lose their homes to care costs. The benefits bill will increase by more in this Parliament alone, than Labour’s raid on pensioners will save by 2050.
“The triple lock is Conservative policy. Rather than going after pensioners who cannot work, a Conservative government would get Britain working again by making cuts to the working age welfare bill.”
Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake said this week that keeping the triple lock in its current form was the party’s plan, adding that he “would assume” it would be in the manifesto.
Conservatives and Reform UK reiterate support for pension triple lock
