Robert Jenrick has hinted that Reform UK could retain the state pension triple lock after his party leader Nigel Farage cast doubt on it.
Jenrick, who was unveiled as Farage’s pick for chancellor on Monday, said he had “always been a supporter of the triple lock” and that Reform would “protect pensioners”.
This is at odds with previous comments by Reform leader Nigel Farage and suggests at early tension between Jenrick, a high profile defector from the Tories who has been handed his new party’s Treasury brief.
Shortly after Jenrick’s press conference on Tuesday, Farage told journalists that “I haven’t changed my mind” and “everything is open for debate”.
The future of the policy – which guarantees the state pension will rise each year by whatever is highest out of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent – is set to become a major flashpoint at the next election, due in 2029.
It has seen pensions rise significantly over the last few years due to high inflation, leading to fears that it is not affordable in the longer term.
‘We’re always going to protect pensioners’
Taking questions from journalists on Tuesday after delivering a speech in the City of London on Reform’s economic policy, Jenrick was asked whether he would commit to maintain the triple lock into the next election.
Jenrick said: “We’re going to say more about this in the coming days, but I’ve always been a supporter of the triple lock.
“It’s incredibly important to provide dignity and security to all the people on fixed incomes in the last decades of their life, particularly in a time like this when there’s such challenging circumstances with the cost of living.
“So I don’t think your readers will be disappointed, but we’ll say more in the coming weeks.”
Asked again about the triple lock, he added: “We’re always going to protect pensioners. We’re always going to protect pensioners, because we want them to live in dignity and security and we appreciate how life has been tough for them as a result of the bad policies of both the last Conservative government and this one, energy prices for example, that has put immense strain on their budgets.”
Asked a third time, he replied: “Your readers will not be disappointed by our view on [the lock]. We want to protect pensioners and those who rely on it.”
Jenrick’s comments differ markedly from those which have been made by Farage.
‘Everything is up for discussion’ – Farage
Last year, the Reform leader told The i Paper that would not “absolutely commit” to continuing the lock and that it would “all depend on, as a country, what we can afford”.
Asked by Bloomberg last month whether he would end the lock, he said “everything is up for discussion” and “I get the logic.”
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Last year, the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that the lock would be three times more expensive by the end of the decade than it was expected to be when it was introduced in 2011, costing £15.5bn by 2030.
The watchdog said that the triple lock was among a number of spending pressures which were making the UK’s public finances “unsustainable position in the long run”.
Jenrick also said a Reform government would reintroduce the two-child benefit cap and reviews tax codes for the first time in 40 years.
He said: “We want a simpler, fairer tax system that incentivises work, saving and investment. That means fixing the absurd marginal tax rates that many people face in our country today, so we do intend to review the tax code in a programme not seen since the landmark reforms of Nigel Lawson.”
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