Reform UK will commit to keeping the state pension triple lock if they win the next general election.
In a press conference on Thursday, Nigel Farage confirmed that his party will keep the controversial triple lock in an apparent attempt to appeal to older voters ahead of May’s local elections.
This is despite the fact that Farage has previously suggested his party could scrap the triple lock, which he said was “up for debate” earlier this year.
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The triple lock means that each year pensions must rise by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5 per cent.
The idea is that pensioners should never fall behind, but as the UK’s population gets older the policy continues to look increasingly unaffordable in today’s world.
Despite this, Reform will stand by the triple lock.
Farage said on Thursday: “The people to whom pensions are being paid, certainly compared to a younger generation today, are those who have actually worked and paid into the system.”
He explained that the triple lock will be funded by “the biggest cuts to the benefits bill ever seen in the history of this country.”
This will put them in step with both the Labour government and the Tories, raising further questions about just how ‘anti-establishment’ the party really is.
This April, the triple lock will rise by 4.7% to £12,548, costing the Treasury an extra £6bn.
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that maintaining it will add more than £15.5 billion per year by 2029–30.
However, with every passing day, month and year, the mass transfer of wealth from working people to the retired becomes more and more unaffordable.