How Burnham can unpick the triple lock

Socialism for the old and capitalism for the young isn’t sustainable

Today on Arguably, I explore the best way for Andy Burnham to break the state pension “triple lock” – and get the thoughts of the man who devised the policy in the first place.

(Jakub Krechowicz/Shutterstock)

Milton Friedman liked to observe that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government programme”. Income tax, you might recall, originated in 1799 as a short-term measure by William Pitt the Younger to fund the British military campaign against Napoleon. In 2011, fearful of anger over high petrol pieces, George Osborne cut fuel duty by 1p and delayed a planned rise – no government has had the courage to increase it since (the Treasury is £133bn poorer).

Then there is the case of the “triple lock”. This generous mechanism, which guarantees that the UK state pension rises by the highest of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%, was introduced by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition back in 2011/12. Like a fiscal Larry the Cat, it has since outlasted six prime ministers, acquiring quasi-constitutional status. How many other policies can you name that are backed by Labour, Reform, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid Cymru? The triple lock has become the third rail of British politics – no one dares touch it for fear of political death (all the more so after the winter fuel debacle).

But outside of Westminster, no measure attracts more reliable ire from policy wonks, including those advising Andy Burnham. Jim O’Neill, or “Mr Brics”, has labelled the triple lock “bonkers”; former RSA head Andy Haldane has proposed its abolition to help fund defence spending. They join a coalition that also includes Tony Blair, Jeremy Hunt and Matthew Yglesias who, from an American vantage point, has called it a “truly demonic piece of public policy”.

So how do we escape this inferno? This story, like so much in British politics, begins with Margaret Thatcher.