The Labour Party has seized on new comments issued by Kemi Badenoch after the Conservative leader appeared to cast further doubt over her stance on the triple lock.
The future of the state pension triple lock has been a recurring debate during Badenoch’s tenure as Conservative leader.
Speaking on LBC Radio in January, the Tory leader said that “serious thinking” was required to address the financial impact of more government spending “on later life”.
Asked whether this included the “triple lock” policy – under which state pension payments go up every year by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent – she replied: “That’s exactly the sort of thing that the policy work we are going to be doing will look at”.
These remarks have featured at the forefront of Labour’s criticisms of the Conservative leader, with the party arguing they hint at a forthcoming policy change.
In a new interview with GB News, Badenoch was further drawn on her position on the triple lock.
She said: “The Conservative policy has always been to maintain the triple lock. It’s our policy, but we’re not in government now.
“And we need to make sure that while we have all the commitments to maintain the triple lock, that we also look at what is happening to the economy. So people don’t need to worry. This is people, other people setting hares running, not me.”
Pressed on whether maintaining the triple lock will feature in the next Conservative manifesto, Badenoch added: “We have always said that we are committed to the triple lock.
“At the next election, we’re going to come out with all of the policies that we’ve worked out. Who knows? We might change everything.
“Make things better, you know, improve things. We don’t know where that will be until our policy commission’s report.”
Responding to the Conservative leader’s comments, a Labour spokesperson said: “Once again Kemi Badenoch refuses to rule out scrapping the pensions triple lock. Scrapping the triple lock seems to be one of the very few policies she actually has.
“It’s only Labour that will protect the triple lock, which we’ve done by stabilising our economy as part of our Plan for Change. This means that millions of pensioners will be £470 better off this year.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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