State pensioners have been warned the Triple Lock could be “means-tested” – costing them a well-earned pay rise. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has sparked outrage after admitting the Tories will look into “means-testing” the triple lock for pensioners.
Speaking during a call-in appearance on LBC, the Leader of the Opposition said that while the Tories supported the triple lock while they were in power, the party needs to “keep growing” with its approach as thw Cost of Living crisis continues.
Ms Badenoch said: “We’re going to look at means testing [the triple lock]. Means testing is something which we don’t do properly here. I always said, for example, that millionaires should not be getting the winter fuel payment.
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“But what Rachel Reeves has done is the extreme version of that, where people who are actually on the breadline have had their winter fuel payment taken away. We don’t have a system that knows who should get what. That’s the sort of thing that we need to be looking at.”
Ms Badenoch said: “The triple lock is a policy which we supported throughout our 14 years in Government, that was a Conservative policy, but we need to make sure that we are growing. Starting with the triple lock is not how to solve the problem. We need to start with why are we not making the same kind of money we used to make?
“I tell people we’ve started living off our inheritance, we’re living off the work that previous generations did. We’ve got to give something to the next generation. What are we leaving them with? That’s what we’ve got to sort out.
“We can’t just make ourselves comfortable now spending their future. We need to give them a future.” The Triple Lock hike in 2025 will hand state pensioners a £470 boost.