Triple Lock, Working-Age Benefits and No Pact with Reform: What Burghart Said
Conservative deputy leader Alex Burghart has said his party will keep the state pension triple lock and will not agree an electoral pact with Reform UK, either before or after a general election. BBC
In interviews published on 1 October, Mr Burghart said pensioners were a "special case" for welfare policy. He said they had reached the end of their working lives and could not act to increase their income. BBC
He said difficult decisions on welfare should focus on working-age benefits rather than pensioner benefits. BBC He said the Conservatives would keep the triple lock but reform health-related benefits for people of working age. Express
Andy Burnham plans to adjust the triple lock from 2030 to help fund a new national care service. BBC The adjustment would take effect from April 2030. Reuters Mr Burnham has accepted there could be a shortfall in his plan to fund a National Care Service for England by scrapping the triple lock. The Times
The triple lock guarantees the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5% — in effect, it picks the largest of three numbers. BBC The Coalition government introduced it in 2011. Conservatives The Conservatives committed to it again in March 2024. Reuters Reuters described Mr Burnham's pledge to unwind it as the biggest reform of the UK state pension system in more than a decade. Reuters
Mr Burghart said Labour is "looking backwards" while the Conservatives "look forwards". Politico
The broader context here is fiscal as well as electoral. Protecting the triple lock keeps a universal, UK-wide pension promise. It leaves working-age, health-related benefits as the place for savings or reform, where eligibility tests and conditions for claimants are already part of the debate.
Looking at what this means for those who must cost and campaign on it, both positions carry questions. Retaining the triple lock gives pensioners certainty. It leaves open how sustained rises are funded without action elsewhere. Adjusting it from 2030 to pay for care in England — care is devolved, so this is an England-only plan — gives the money a set purpose. Mr Burnham's own acknowledgement of a shortfall invites scrutiny of whether the sums close, and over what timeframe. With no pact on offer, Conservative strategists must fight Reform as opponents rather than partners.
