Is the 'Triple-Lock for the chop?

 

Neither the Labour Party or Conservative Party in Britain will give a commitment to guaranteeing the 'triple-lock' on the old age state retirement pension, after the next general election.

The triple-lock increases pensions by at least 2.5 %, the inflation rate, or average earnings, whichever is the greater. The Conservative government of Rishi Sunak, say that the triple-lock on pensions is not sustainable in the long run. Nor will they guarantee increasing the pension next April (2024), by 8.5% which is the current rate at which average earnings are rising. They say this figure has been skewed by bonus payments paid to workers.

In April 2022, the Conservative government also reneged on the triple-lock when they suspended it and increased the pension by 3.1%. It should have been increased by 8.3%, but the government argued then that this was skewed by workers being laid off because of the COVID lockdown and then returning to work.

The triple-lock system was introduced in 2010, to address the problem of a 30 years’ decline in the value of British pensions which were just linked to the rate of inflation. Not very long ago, the state retirement pension was increased by 0.75 pence.

We live in the fifth richest country on Earth and yet we have one of the least generous state retirement pensions in Western Europe. Pensioners don't even get the equivalent of the national minimum wage, yet we're told that the country can't afford it. Don't be fooled with this idea that there's only so much money in the money box, or that a country like Britain, can run out of money. Who gets what, and how the national cake is shared out, is very much a political decision and isn't necessarily determined by economics. Governments squander public money all the time, by incompetence or political corruption.

Many retired people, are inclined to vote Tory but I'm not one of them, as I despise the bastards. I've never voted Tory in my life, but one thing I do recognise, is that old age pensioners shouldn't be taken for granted because they can decide the outcomes of a general election. Neither should the old and young be played off against one another. Young people will eventually become pensioners and they deserve a decent retirement in old age. The Labour Party should pledge to guarantee the triple-lock in its manifesto if it wants to get elected.