Lucy Powell insists Labour are ‘committed to the triple lock’ amid fear Andy Burnham will scrap pension protections

Introduced in 2010 by the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, the triple lock binds the Government to increase the state pension each April by whichever is highest: CPI inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5 per cent.

Mr Burnham’s predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, swept to victory in 2024 after vowing to keep pace.

However, the Prime Minister has faced mounting pressure to end the policy and redirect savings to fund a major overhaul of social care.

Later today, Mr Burnham is expected to argue Britain cannot continue with "politics-as-usual" in his debut conference speech as Labour leader.

He will pledge to have an “honest conversation” with voters about the “difficult issues” Westminster has ignored for too long, highlighting social care, youth unemployment and public control of energy, water and housing.

Chancellor John Healey has also declined to rule out pension reform ahead of his Autumn Budget next month.

Lucy Powell has insisted Labour is 'committed to the triple lock' amid fears Andy Burnham will look to scrap it

GB NEWS

While appearing on the People’s Channel, Ms Powell was challenged on the prospect of scrapping the triple lock.

“We are committed to the triple lock. It's in our manifesto,” the Education Secretary insisted.

“We're delivering that manifesto; we are committed to that, and that is really delivering for pensioners over this period.”

“The state pension is set to rise by around £2,000 over the course of this parliament,” she said.

The Prime Minister is expected to tell the Labour Party conference 'we can’t carry on as we are'

PA

She assured Britons the “value of their pension is being maintained and will be maintained".

Ms Powell also addressed wider questions around the future cost of social care, saying the Government intended to take a longer-term approach to reform.

“The conversation about social care, for example, is one that we will take over the long term and we've got a really big, important report coming from Louise Casey next summer,” she said.

The Education Secretary said the report will “look under the bonnet of all of these issues” and set out recommendations and proposals for reform.

Despite her insistence, other Labour figures have been less certain about the future of the triple lock.

Darren Jones, the former Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, suggested: “If you're reallocating money to help older people in the social care system, maybe there's some reform that could be made there.”

Lord Blunkett, the former Work and Pensions Secretary, went further, suggesting Mr Burnham should move to axe the triple lock swiftly.

He said such a move could save up to £22billion by 2030.