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Thinktank says it’s time to ‘stop being polite about triple lock’ as PM expected to call for debate on its future
Andy Burnham seems to want a national debate about the pensions triple lock. That has gone down well at the Resolution Foundation where, adopting uncharacteristic fighting talk, the thinktank says “its time to stop being polite about the triple lock.”
Pensioner incomes had caught up with non-pensioner incomes BEFORE the triple lock was introduced, thanks to policies like Pension Credit.
It’s time to stop being polite about the triple lock. It’s not fiscally sustainable for the State Pension to grow faster than earnings indefintiely.
State Pension spending accounts for nearly half the projected increase in social security spending by 2029-30
A ‘smoothed’ earnings link would still have left the real value of the Basic State Pension £12.30 per week higher in 2026-27 than in 2011-12.
The Resolution Foundation set out its full case for the prosecution against the triple lock in this paper in June.
Key events
Rayner suggests Burnham willing to risk his career over social care reform
Here is more from what Angela Rayner said about Andy Burnham in her podcast interview earlier. (See 10.14am.) She said it was brave of Burnham to risk all his political capital on social care reform.
It’s brave. We’ve got a prime minister who said: ‘I am OK with burning through all my political capital to the point where it might finish me off, on the basis of my legacy will be something better and different.’
Burnham himself has said that he accepts trying to reform social care may burn up his social capital. But he has not quite said he is prepared to resign if this fails; yesterday he implied that, if he could not win the argument on this, he might have to drop his ambitions.
How 2024 election result would have been different under proportional representation (PR)
With Andy Burnham expected to propose electoral reform in his speech later, Labour members will probably soon be downloading this – a paper from the Electoral Reform Society explaining what would have happened in the 2024 general election if it had been fought under a PR system.
This chart shows the actual result under first past the post, and the potential result under four different PR systems – single transferable vote; additional member system with 32% top-up seats; AMS with 50% top-up seats; and a party list system.
The ERS wants PR because first past the post delivered “the most disproportional outcome in UK electoral history” in 2024. This chart illustrates the problem. Labour got 34% of the vote, but won 63% of the seats.
But that means, at the last election, Labour would have been the big loser from PR. And the biggest winner would have Reform UK.
Jeremy Corbyn says he strongly opposes getting rid of triple lock, and favours wealth taxes instead
Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who is now parliamentary leader of Your Party, has said he is strongly opposed to getting rid of the pensions triple lock. He says:
I strongly oppose the removal of the pensions triple lock.
More than 2 million pensioners live in poverty. They will be the ones who suffer the most by taking away pension security.
We must protect the principle of universalism. That is why we opposed cuts to winter fuel – and that is why we must oppose any means-testing of the state pension.
This isn’t about old versus young. This is about the super-rich versus the rest. That’s why we should be taxing wealth to fund social care for all.
Thinktank says it’s time to ‘stop being polite about triple lock’ as PM expected to call for debate on its future
Andy Burnham seems to want a national debate about the pensions triple lock. That has gone down well at the Resolution Foundation where, adopting uncharacteristic fighting talk, the thinktank says “its time to stop being polite about the triple lock.”
Pensioner incomes had caught up with non-pensioner incomes BEFORE the triple lock was introduced, thanks to policies like Pension Credit.
It’s time to stop being polite about the triple lock. It’s not fiscally sustainable for the State Pension to grow faster than earnings indefintiely.
State Pension spending accounts for nearly half the projected increase in social security spending by 2029-30
A ‘smoothed’ earnings link would still have left the real value of the Basic State Pension £12.30 per week higher in 2026-27 than in 2011-12.
The Resolution Foundation set out its full case for the prosecution against the triple lock in this paper in June.
The Green party MP Siân Berry has expressed surprise after Ed Miliband told LBC that the government did not expect proscribing Palestine Action to lead to vicars and grannies being criminalised. (See 9.39am.)
In a statement, she said:
Under Labour’s authoritarian drift, including this proscription, elderly people, vicars and grannies have inevitably been treated as terrorists, and it is difficult to see how Labour ministers did not foresee this. This is why all Greens in parliament voted against the proscription of Palestine Action …
The home secretary should do the right thing and act now to reverse this proscription, to save this going through the supreme court and potentially all the way up to the European court of human rights.
In her speech, Rayner confirmed that the government is pushing ahead with leasehold reform. She said:
We are ending the injustice of leasehold. Abolishing the sickening threats of people’s homes being snatched away by their landlord for the slightest breach …
Ground rents are not the only rip off. I’ve heard of leaseholders being charged £250 for permission to own a pet, £400 for permission to change the home front door and then a further £60 fee to put a doorbell on that – just for the basic right to do what you want in your own home.
Rayner says councils will get more powers to tackle homelessness as she gets rid of ‘Tory barriers’ holding them back
Rayner said the measures she was announcing to make it easier for councils to tackle homelessness would involve getting rid of “Tory barriers” holding back local leaders.
She said:
For those homes that sit idle and unused, we will make it easier for councils to bring these homes back into use for desperate families who need them.
Sweeping away Tory barriers that hampered our local leaders from taking action. This is why I am also announcing more powers for local leaders to tackle homelessness and to ensure that they have the homes that their communities need.
Our councils will be able to refer local homeless households to other social housing providers to reduce reliance on temporary accommodation.
We will stop social homes from being lost when providers sell them by making it easier for councils to buy, and at the same time, we will introduce a new duty on public services to work together to provide a wraparound support to prevent homelessness before families reach crisis point.
When we say that we stand for more public control of housing, this is what we mean: giving power to those who know their areas and local people best, and who ultimately are accountable when families are left without a secure home.
In her speech Rayner confirmed that she is tightening the rules so that housing associations in England will be told they cannot decline to house homeless families without good reason.
Rayner said that, with 180,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation, it was unacceptable for so many homes to be left empty. ‘We will make it easier for councils to bring these homes back into use with desperate families who need them,” she said.
Rayner started her speech with a thank you to Labour members who supported her after she had to resign last year.
The support I received from so many people here over the last year has meant so much to me personally. The Labour movement is a family to me, and that’s the thing about our movement. We are here not just for ourselves, but we’re here for each other. And you’ve been there for me and I’m here for you.
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