Lib Dems to pledge 'triple lock' law for guaranteed increase of pensions
|
Version 0 of 1. The Liberal Democrats will propose new laws guaranteeing the annual state pension will be at least £790 higher by the end of the next parliament, Steve Webb, the pensions minister, has said. In a new manifesto pledge, Webb said his party would commit to the current "triple lock" – an annual increase in line with wages, prices or 2.5%, whichever is the highest – until the end of the next parliament. This would mean the state pension would be worth at least £131 per week by 2020, up from the current level of £113 per week. Webb blamed successive Labour and Conservative governments for allowing the state pension to decline after Margaret Thatcher broke the link with earnings in 1980. He claimed the triple lock promised was a key policy delivered by Liberal Democrats as a result of coalition negotiations. "Our manifesto promise of a triple lock has been implemented every year since 2010 and means that the state pension is already a higher share of the national average wage than at any time since the early 1990s," he said. "But if we are serious about having a decent state pension we need to go further. That is why the Liberal Democrats will guarantee in law that in each year pensions will rise by the highest of wages, prices or 2.5%." Pensioners who receive the full state pension would get at least £6,800 in 2020, but it could be as high as £7,277, he said. |