Keir Starmer Could Signal End of State Pension ‘Triple Lock’ in Labour Speech

Andy Burnham could use his first Labour conference speech as leader to hint at the future of the state pension “triple lock”.

In a deeply personal address to activists in Liverpool, the Prime Minister is expected to expand on plans for an NHS-style social care system, which has been estimated to cost £18billion a year.

Just two months after defeating Keir Starmer, Mr Burnham will set out a Left-wing programme of nationalisation aimed at giving the country “hope again”.

However, the Labour leader is already facing criticism as he appears ready to put the pension guarantee at risk in an effort to demonstrate how his ambitious spending plans could be funded.

The triple lock ensures state pension payments rise by whichever is highest among inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent. The policy was introduced by the Coalition Government.

Unite, one of Labour’s biggest union donors, has warned that “picking the pocket of pensioners” would amount to “electoral suicide”.

Any move against the guarantee would be especially contentious because the Prime Minister has repeatedly rejected proposals to cut benefits such as PIP, arguing instead that reforms should focus on helping more people into work.

Cabinet ministers have declined to guarantee the triple lock beyond the current Parliament, while maintaining that Labour’s commitment to retain it until the next election remains in place.

During a series of broadcast interviews ahead of the speech, Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell said only that Mr Burnham was prepared to tackle challenging questions.

His conference address comes against a worsening economic backdrop, with the crisis in the Middle East sending shockwaves through energy markets.

As he works on the Government’s finances ahead of the October 28 Budget, Chancellor John Healey told delegates yesterday that Labour could not repeat the spending surge associated with Tony Blair’s government after 1997.

Persistent inflation, weaker growth and rising debt-servicing costs have steadily reduced Mr Healey’s “headroom” under the Government’s fiscal rules. That leaves ministers facing the prospect of tax increases or spending reductions, the latter of which would meet fierce opposition from Labour MPs.

Reflecting the Liverpool conference slogan “Hope again”, Mr Burnham will tell party members that “hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid”.

He is also expected to repeat his criticism of Thatcher and “neoliberalism”, blaming the country’s current difficulties on what he calls the “flawed thinking of the last 40 years”.

The Labour leader will announce plans for a publicly owned “Great British Grid”, intended to bring UK energy costs closer to those in European countries over the next decade.

Mr Burnham will say: “We can’t carry on as we are. Politics-as-usual has taken Britain backwards.

“More of the same isn’t good enough and isn’t going to get us where we need to be.”

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He will pledge to wrest power from “vested interests” and give the public sector “more control of the basics so that we can make it more functional again”.

Renationalisation of the railways is already under way, but the PM will signal he wants further government control of other sectors, including water, energy and housing.

He will make clear the Government is ready to put Thames Water in a ‘special administration scheme’ if a bailout plan fails, effectively taking public ownership of the debt-laden giant.

Labour sources said full-scale nationalisation of the major utilities is unlikely at this stage because of the enormous cost.

But ministers are exploring other ways to intervene in the market to give the Government greater control, including appointing elected mayors to lead regional oversight boards.

Mr Burnham has said social care reforms will not be in place until after the next election, with Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey carrying out a review. 

The prospect of downgrading the triple lock sparked an immediate backlash from Labour’s allies. 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Instead of going and trying to pick the pocket of pensioners, we need to move over to the other side of the equation and look at things like wealth taxes, way before we try to stop something like the triple lock…’

The Unite general secretary added: ‘When we met with Andy this week, it certainly wasn’t mentioned.

‘But I do think that it’s important that Labour make sure that working-class people know that they’re on their side, and this would be a direction of travel that would say the opposite to that.’

Asked whether the lock should be reformed to fund social care, Ms Graham said: ‘What I understood the National Care Service to be was a universal benefit: everybody paid in and everybody gets out, and that is what actually the principle of that is.

‘Going to a group of people who are getting around £12,500 a year in order to pay for it to take away their security is wrong. I think it’s morally wrong.’

Ms Powell, who is also the Education Secretary, said the party was committed to the triple lock until the next election – but would not go any further.

She told Sky News: ‘We are committed to the triple lock. It’s in our manifesto. The triple lock has really delivered for pensioners, in this country, over the course of this Parliament.

‘I think we’re going to see (the) state pension rising by about £2,000-a-year significantly, and that’s really important, so pensioners watching your show today can know that their income is secure and will continue to rise over the course of this Parliament.

‘I don’t know what Andy’s going to say about that today, but I know that what he’s talking about is this big conversation about solving these big problems, but being really honest with people that they come at a cost.

‘They do come at a cost. You can’t just solve the social care crisis without having the big conversations about how you’re going to do this.’