UK gov't to commit to triple-lock guarantee on pensions, Liz Truss announces

LONDON

British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday that her government will commit to a triple-lock guarantee for boosting monthly payments to more than 12 million state pensioners.

Taking questions from lawmakers in the House of Commons, Truss said the rise in state pensions will be in line with the triple lock -- a policy that increases state pensions every year in line with the highest of three possible figures: inflation, average earnings, or 2.5%.

A few days ago Britain’s new finance minister Jeremy Hunt had refused to guarantee an increase in state pensions, leaving millions of pensioners worrying amid the cost-of-living crisis with winter fast approaching.

Hunt, who replaced Kwasi Kwarteng as chancellor of the exchequer following weeks of economic turmoil over the government’s mini-budget, refused on Monday to make any commitments on “individual policy areas.”

Truss also said the government has delivered an energy price annual guarantee of £2,500 ($2,226).

Truss, under fire for the economic turmoil the country has seen during her so far brief tenure in office, said she has been clear that she was "sorry" for the recent situation.

But opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer questioned Truss’ premiership: “What’s the point of a prime minister whose promises don’t even last a week?”

Underlining that the government would crack down on striking unions, Truss accused Labour of acting with strikers.

Starmer said Truss’ mini-budget has imploded and listed the measures reversed by Hunt. He asked if Kwarteng has gone, “Why is she still here?”

“I am a fighter, not a quitter,” Truss responded.

Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster, also criticized Truss’ abrupt about-faces in policy.

“After 10 U-turns in two weeks, we are left with a prime minister in office but not in power,” he said.

Upon a question from Blackford, Truss repeated the government’s commitment to the triple lock.

Truss’ remarks on the pensions clarified what Hunt said previously. He had said decisions would be taken “through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable,” failing to clear the triple-lock guarantee on the state pensions.

The number of people receiving state pensions as of February stood at 12.5 million.