The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been urged to scrap the triple lock on state pensions and replace it with a 'smoothed earnings link', a move that could free up billions for defence spending. Conservative Party heavyweights, including former cabinet members Amber Rudd and David Gauke, as well as former West Midlands mayor Andy Street, are backing the proposal from the think tank Prosper UK.
Proposed Change to Pension Metric
Prosper UK, a Conservative think tank launched in January, argues that the current triple lock pledge should be replaced with a metric where pensions rise with earnings over time, protected against inflation only in lean years. According to the Tories, this change would save £20.6 billion annually by 2050, which could then be redirected to defence spending at a time when significant investment is needed.
Support and Criticism
The group's Fairer Welfare System report aims to put the welfare state on a sustainable footing while protecting those in genuine need, and to free resources for priorities such as defence and lower taxes. However, critics have raised concerns. Sara Hall from Positive Money warned that reintroducing the two-child benefit cap would be regressive and plunge hundreds of thousands of children into poverty. Steve Webb, a former Liberal Democrats Pensions Minister who helped invent the triple lock, cautioned that private pension savings are currently too low to compensate for a weaker state pension. He stressed that as long as private savings are inadequate, a strong state pension is essential.
