The Education Secretary told Sky News:
“We are committed to the triple lock. It’s in our manifesto. The triple lock has really delivered for pensioners in this country over the course of this parliament. I think we’re going to see the state pension rising by about £2,000 a year, which is significant. That’s really important so pensioners watching your show today can know that their income is secure and will continue to rise over the course of this parliament. I don’t know what Andy’s going to say about that today, but I know he’s talking about this big conversation about solving these big problems, while being really honest with people that they come at a cost. You can’t just solve the social care crisis without having the big conversations about how you’re going to do that…
It’s in our manifesto. But I also think we need to have this bigger conversation about how we solve the social care crisis. We are all paying for the social care crisis already. Those who need it are acutely and significantly paying social care costs themselves, and you can’t even insure yourself against social care costs.”
The idea to reform the Triple Lock is taking flak already. Unite union boss Sharon Graham said:
“We’re going to the wrong place to save money. We pay our pensioners less here than in Ireland. It shows a direction of travel I would caution us from going down, it is a bad road to go down… Why do we keep going back to the well of pensioners?”
All eyes on Burnham’s speech…
Mail commentator Dan Hodges – who was kind to Burnham during the Makerfield campaign – now concludes: “The truth is Andy Burnham doesn’t have a 10 year plan. He’s barely got a 10 week plan.“