So there is a point in time at which the nettle will have to be grasped, but it doesn’t need to be grasped until somebody other than me is in the ,” Stride said, suggesting he does not see himself being work and pensions secretary after the next election.Īsked about the triple lock on pensions, which guarantees that payments rise by the higher of inflation, earnings or 2.5%, Stride said there were “not any plans currently” to abandon it in the next Conservative election manifesto. “There is a real tension because if you look at the OBR’s fiscal sustainability reports projecting 50 years … the demographic changes and the costs of pensions is really weighing in the wrong direction. However, he said the decision still did need to be taken.
There’s no reason why we need to take the decision now you can wait until the first couple of years of the next parliament, take that decision and still give people 10 years notice.” The range of dates for the moving up of the state pension age from 67 to 68 is well into the 2030s: you’re debating 2030s, 40s or thereabouts. Ultimately I took the decision because of Covid and economic uncertainties and the fact that the important thing is you give people 10 years notice of any change.”
The work and pensions secretary, a close ally of Rishi Sunak, said: “I don’t think it’s in our national psyche to start rioting and burning things over the state pension. Stride made the remarks as he addressed journalists at a lunch in Westminster, when he was asked whether the government will attempt to revisit its plans to raise the pension age in future in light of riots and protests in France. He also said there were “no plans currently” to change the triple lock on raising pensions in the next Conservative manifesto but stopped short of guaranteeing it would be retained.
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