![\"Treasury](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Treasury-team-e1779873532720.jpg\")
\t\tThe Treasury has committed itself to the triple lock pension. Rousseau\/PA Wire\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 27 May 2026 10:35 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 27 May 2026 10:36 am\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tThe Treasury has committed itself to the triple lock pension. Rousseau\/PA Wire\t<\/p>\n
A Treasury minister has defended the triple lock pension as a sustainable policy despite former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair attacking the benefit for being unaffordable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dan Tomlinson said it was \u201cimportant we have the triple lock and that we increase spending on pensioners\u201d, doubling down on the controversial manifesto commitment that has been criticised by the UK\u2019s top economists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The triple lock pension ensures that the state pension increases each year by whatever is highest out of the inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5 per cent. It means that pensioners are protected from severe price shocks<\/a> even as real wages for workers slow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Blair wrote in an essay that it was \u201chorribly hard\u201d to reform the state pension but emphasised that voters \u201cknow, deep down, the necessity of doing it\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also called on Labour to work with the Tories on reforming welfare as he concluded that the triple lock pension was \u201cunaffordable\u201d, echoing views shared by economists from across the political spectrum and those at the Office for Budget Responsibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tomlinson hit back at Blair\u2019s comments and said the government should continue hiking the state pension, which now amounts to \u00a312,547 per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do support the triple lock, I think it\u2019s the right policy, it was in our manifesto and I think it\u2019s important that we make sure we\u2019re protecting pensioners and protecting their living standards,\u201d the Treasury\u2019s tax minister said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tIMF tells Reeves to drop triple lock pension and make \u2018fundamental\u2019 tax reform\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely need to make sure that we are not spending more money than we need to on welfare payments for people \u2026 particularly young people who are out of work and have been out of work for a long period <\/a>of time.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way, the most sustainable way, to both grow our economy to support individuals and to support the public finances is to make sure that we are helping people to get into work and to get into employment.\u201d<\/p>\n Parties back triple lock pension<\/p>\n All the mainstream political parties \u2013 Labour, the Conservatives and Reform UK<\/a> \u2013 have committed to maintaining the triple lock mechanism, which was first introduced by former Chancellor George Osborne in the \u201causterity\u201d years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Economists have said the policy is unsustainable over the long term as spending on the pension outpaces growth in tax receipts.\u00a0<\/p>\n The OBR said last year that the triple lock pension had already cost three times as much as originally forecast, with the fiscal watchdog\u2019s former chair Richard Hughes suggesting that it contributed towards setting UK public finances on an \u201cunsustainable\u201d path.\u00a0<\/p>\n