Nigel Farage says ‘Reform will protect your pension’ despite party previously saying it would not guarantee the triple lock
Reform has been accused of hypocrisy over its attacks on Labour’s pension policy
Nigel Farage has said that “Reform will protect your pension” while attacking Labour’s plan to review the triple lock, despite his party previously saying it couldn’t guarantee the triple lock either.
Reform’s criticism of Andy Burnham’s plan to end the triple lock in 2030 to help fund social care has been met with accusations of hypocrisy.
Burnham has said the current state pension triple lock will be maintained until April 2030.
From then, it will be adjusted so the state pension rises by at least inflation or 2.5% each year with a new link built in to keep pace with earnings over time.
In an interview with LBC’s Andrew Marr in February, the Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said the party couldn’t guarantee the triple lock.
The triple lock guarantees that the UK state pension rises every year by whichever of the following three measures is the highest: inflation, average wage growth or a baseline of 2.5%.
Marr pointed out that the UK spends £177 billion per year on pensioners, and that the figure is increasing due to the triple lock. He said: “If you’re looking at the welfare bill, that is the bit that is running out of control but your party won’t talk about it.”
Tice responded by saying that Marr was “wrong” and that “on a number of occasions, Nigel has clearly said that we’re not guaranteeing the triple lock”.
He added: “The nation’s finances are in serious trouble and nothing is affordable if you go bust.”
In a post on X today, Farage has now said that Reform would guarantee the triple lock.
Reacting to his pledge, one social media user shared a link to an article about a Reform-linked think tank, The Centre for a Better Britain, calling for the state pension to be scrapped, with the caption: “Reform ‘protecting your pension’”.
The CFABB has said they would support the state pension, which everyone receives as long as they have paid national insurance contributions, being replaced with a means-tested system based on income and assets.
Last month, Reform recruited Mitchell Palmer as its new chief economic adviser.
Palmer previously called for an end to the triple lock, arguing it was an “expensive” and “unsustainable” way to protect pensioners.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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