At the 1949 Labour conference in Blackpool, firebrand Health Minister Nye Bevan told delegates with pride that “the language of priorities is the religion of socialism”.
Seventy-seven years on, Andy Burnham’s speech at the party’s Liverpool conference would surely have left that revered figure of the Left turning in his grave.
By suggesting that Labour could scrap the pensions triple lock from 2030, the Government has revealed what appear to be deeply misguided priorities. The policy currently ensures the state pension rises by whichever is highest: inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent.
With vast savings needed to finance his plans for universal free care, the Prime Minister could have targeted countless examples of waste and inefficiency across government — from the excesses of Net Zero to the ever-expanding welfare bill.
Instead, the first people Mr Burnham appears ready to make pay are those who have spent decades working, contributed through National Insurance and tried to do the right thing — precisely the kind of citizens traditional Labour once claimed to defend.
The contradiction is extraordinary from a politician so determined to present himself as a champion of fairness and integrity. It points, in my view, to a serious moral failure within the governing class.
The first people Mr Burnham appears ready to make pay are those who have spent decades working, contributed through National Insurance and tried to do the right thing, writes Nigel Farage
Let us be clear: the state pension is not a handout or a gift from politicians. It forms part of a basic social contract between the citizen and the state.
For almost 50 years, British workers pay into the system on the clear expectation that the country will provide financial security and dignity when they reach retirement.
Breaking that promise when people are already in their seventies and eighties — with little or no realistic opportunity to return to work and make up any shortfall — would be a profound betrayal.
That is why Reform UK firmly supports the pensions triple lock. We would retain it without qualification.
The question is how it can be funded. Our answer is straightforward: government must rethink its spending decisions from the ground up.
Protecting pensioners does not require another increase in taxes.
What is needed is a government willing to stop pouring huge sums into the wrong priorities. Consider the projected cost of migrant accommodation, which is expected to reach £15.3billion by the end of the decade.
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Reform UK would seek to end that expense by processing asylum claims offshore, stopping the small boats and refusing taxpayer-funded accommodation to those who have entered the country in breach of its laws.
The principle is simple: common sense should prevail, with the interests of British citizens placed first. Since 2010, taxpayers have also spent £200billion on overseas aid, including assistance to countries that are far from poor.
A Reform UK government would limit that spending to £1billion annually. It would also abandon expensive Net Zero programmes projected to cost an astonishing £59billion by 2030.
We would reduce the bloated civil service and prevent foreign nationals from accessing welfare. Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman, has already pointed to £50billion in potential welfare savings that could be delivered immediately.
Breaking that promise when retirees are in their seventies and eighties would be a profound betrayal. That is why Reform UK firmly supports the pensions triple lock, writes Nigel Farage
Once government spending is redirected towards sensible priorities, maintaining the pensions triple lock is entirely achievable.
The truth is that Labour has lost all connection with working-class Britain. They view our seniors not as valued citizens who built the country we live in today but as an easy target for Treasury raids whenever they need to plug a hole in their disastrous Budgets. They assume older voters have nowhere else to go.
They are dead wrong. Reform UK will not allow the political class to shortchange the generation that gave everything to this country.
It is time for a government that puts the British people back at the top of the priority list.
And we will fight Labour’s pension betrayal with everything we’ve got.
If Andy Burnham is so desperate to pick a fight with pensioners, he should get on with it and call a General Election now.
The choice, then, for voters who value their state pension will be crystal clear: The party who regard pensioners as a cost to be managed down – and those who will protect them at all costs.
At Reform UK, you can be sure we know whose side we are on.
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