Former Conservative MP Damian Green has called for the pensions triple lock to be scrapped (Alamy)
3 min read21 October
A former senior Conservative minister has said the pensions triple lock has “served its purpose” and should be replaced.
Damian Green, a former Conservative secretary of state, has argued in a piece for The House that the triple lock on state pensions should be abolished.
He said the triple lock – which guarantees annual rises in the state pension in line with whichever is highest out of inflation, earnings, or 2.5 per cent – has become unsustainable and should be replaced.
“Let’s be brave for once,” said Green, who was the Tory MP for Ashworth from 1997 to 2024.
“The triple lock has served its purpose and has had its day. We need a new settlement that is fair to all generations.”
The Conservative Party has ruled out scrapping the triple lock if it returns to government, despite facing calls from some of its own MPs and right-leaning think tanks to ditch it.
Reem Ibrahim, a spokesperson for the the Institute for Economic Affairs, called the triple lock “completely unsustainable” as it is “being spent on some of the wealthiest demographics in the country”.
Tory MP and former leadership contender Tom Tugendhat also called for the triple lock to be scrapped by his party, and said that young people had realised the “entire economy is now geared towards a bunch of people who are ageing”.
At a fringe event at Conservative Party conference, 2024-intake Tory MP Jack Rankin said the triple lock policy is “not sustainable long term”.
Lord Mark Harper, former Conservative transport secretary, told the BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday that his party was “absolutely committed” to the triple lock. But he did admit there was “an argument about whether you recalibrate it in terms of the percentage of average earnings”.
The Labour government and the Lib Dems have also committed to keeping the triple lock in place. Reform UK has said it will announce its own policy on the triple lock before the next general election.
Green warned that maintaining the policy risks national bankruptcy, with pension costs projected to rise from £150bn (5.9 per cent of national income) to 8 per cent by 2050, adding around £45bn to the pensions bill.
He proposed linking state pension increases to average earnings growth, which he said would ensure retirees have a share in times of economic prosperity but also share the burden during economic downturns.
“One of the causes of the chronic unhappiness with politics here is the perceived unfairness between the generations,” Green continued.
“Older people are better looked after than ever before, but younger workers feel that, however responsible and hard-working they are, it is too difficult to buy a home, start a family, or just enjoy the traditional fruits of doing the right thing.”
Green is a centre-right Conservative who served in the Cabinet under Theresa May, and was the chairman of the One Nation Conservatives caucus of MPs before he lost his seat in last year’s general election.
The Conservative Party was approached for comment.
