Andy Burnham has committed to £13,183.24 payments for state pensioners if he becomes Prime Minister. Sir Keir Starmer's exit on Monday paves the way for the new Labour Party MP for Makerfield to take over as PM.
Triple lock commitment
Mr Burnham looks set for a coronation in July, and the former Greater Manchester Mayor is being scrutinised for his policies. Among them is the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) triple lock. Experts have called on Mr Burnham to scrap the metric, which has been given to state pensioners since 2010. But Mr Burnham has committed to Rachel Reeves' promise to keep it for the remainder of this Parliament.
Pension projections
If the Triple Lock only rose by its minimum possible amount, it would take payments to £13,183 by 2029, the end of Parliament, according to Fidelity. The pension provider says: "This is the promise, first introduced in 2011, to raise the State Pension each year by the highest of either inflation, wages or 2.5%. The Triple Lock guarantees that increases in the State Pension will never lag any of these measures - not just over extended periods but in each and every individual year as well."
Polling advantage
YouGov has polling suggesting Mr Burnham’s lead over Nigel Farage on who would make the best PM is twice as large as Keir Starmer’s. YouGov says: "Although the outgoing prime minister consistently held a lead over Nigel Farage when it comes to who would do better at Downing Street, the 10-point margin Starmer holds over the Reform UK leader in our most recent figures from May is half the lead held by Burnham today. Likewise, Burnham performs significantly better in opposition to his fellow progressive leaders. His 27-point lead over Zack Polanski compares to Starmer bettering the Green leader by just five points, while the public’s view that Burnham would be a superior PM to Ed Davey contrasts with them favouring the Lib Dem leader over Starmer by 27% to 23%. Burnham’s 4-point advantage over Kemi Badenoch, though, represents a much smaller improvement, as Britons were evenly split 33% to 33% over whether she or Starmer would make the better PM in our May figures."
