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Sunday, July 31, 2016

Scrap Pensions Triple Lock - Ex-Minister

Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted the government will keep the 'triple lock' which protects state pensions.
Number 10 was reacting to suggestions by a former pensions minister that scrapping the locks would save billions of pounds.
Baroness Altmann has warned that by 2020 the cost of safeguarding pensions in the current way would be "enormous".
The pensions 'triple lock' guarantees that state payments rise by the inflation rate, average earnings or a 2.5% safety net - whichever is highest.
It was introduced by the coalition government in 2010 and has been a source of political debate ever since.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "The manifesto contains a commitment to protect the triple lock. That commitment still stands."
Lady Altmann, who left her post as pensions minister in the reshuffle earlier this month, told Sky News that she attempted to persuade David Cameron to use a 'double lock' system last year, but he refused for political reasons.
Describing the current safeguard as a "political gimmick", she said: "The problem with pensions policy is that politicians only want to think about the next few months, or the next year or two."
Lady Altmann has suggested that state pensions should increase in line with prices or earnings, claiming the 2.5% rise "really isn't a sensible policy as far as long-term policy making is concerned."
She called on politicians to focus on the long term, rather than "knee-jerk, headline, totemic policies", which she claimed "end up staying forever because nobody has got the courage" to revisit the issue.
"The double lock would still give pensioners much better protection than most other areas of the economy," she said.
"It is absolutely right that we must protect pensioners, and we should look at a double lock as the best way for the long term to really achieve that."
Debbie Abrahams, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary, said: "Just months ago the Tories went to the country on a solemn promise to protect pensioners, saying their 'triple lock' was guaranteed, that people could trust them, now we hear they're considering dumping it.
"Make no mistake, this would be a grand betrayal - a shocking broken promise hitting pensioners in the pocket.
"The lesson here is that for all their words about doing the right thing, the Tories don't stand up for ordinary people."

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