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Liz Truss refuses to commit to triple lock on pensions despite backing it two weeks ago – UK politics live | Politics

Truss no longer committed to maintaining triple lock on pensions, No 10 says

Liz Truss is no longer publicly committed to defending the triple lock – the guarantee that the state pension will rise every year in line with inflation, earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is highest. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives said they would “keep the triple lock” and in interviews only two weeks ago, during the party conference, Truss confirmed that she was still “committed” to it.

Not any more. At the Downing Street lobby briefing after cabinet, the PM’s spokesperson refused to say that Truss still feels bound by this. He did not say it would definitely go, but he clearly signalled that it is up for negotiation. Asked if Truss was still committed to the triple lock, he replied:

We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are. And, indeed, our priority ahead of this fiscal plan will be to ensure we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.

The chancellor has been clear, the prime minister and the chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point.

But, as I say, the decisions will be seen through the prism of both what matters most to the most vulnerable …

[The PM’s] view, and the chancellor’s view, is that at this point it is not right to start pre-empting a collective piece of work which needs to be carried out across government on all spending.

Although the spokesperson said the commitment to the triple lock no longer applies, he said Truss was still committed to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has signalled he would resign if Truss were to abandon that pledge.

Asked why Truss would not commit to the triple lock, but would commit to raising defence spending, the spokesperson said that the defence pledge related to 2030, and that it had been made in the context of the war in Ukraine and the UK’s membership of Nato.

The questions about the triple lock were triggered by comments that Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor, made in the Commons yesterday. Downing Street echoed the language used by Hunt, who told MPs:

I am very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are, and of the importance of the triple lock. As I said earlier, I am not making any commitments on any individual policy areas, but every decision we take will be taken through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.

With the inflation rate for September expected to be around 10%, keeping the triple lock would see pensions rise by that amount for 2023-24. With Hunt looking for savings in all areas of government spending, it is not hard to see why abandoning it for a year might be tempting.

Last year the triple lock was suspended for 2022-23 because Covid led to a freak 8% rise in earnings, as wages soared back up after the end of lockdown. Ministers argued that it would be unreasonable to give pensioners 8% because of distortions in the labour market, and instead a “double lock” was imposed, with pensioners guaranteed a rise in line with inflation or 2.5%.

But the government had said the triple lock would apply again for 2023-24.

Key events

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Truss gets through cabinet without any minister telling her she should quit, No 10 says

And here is a full summary of the Downing Street lobby briefing. The PM’s spokesperson answered questions about the cabinet meeting, having been allowed to attend as an observer this morning. Most spokespeople for the PM have attended the cabinet, but the current one (Max Blain) was not allowed to attend the first few meetings under Liz Truss.

  • Liz Truss is no longer committed to maintaining the triple lock on pension, No 10 said. (See 1.35pm.)

  • No one at cabinet said Truss should resign, the PM’s spokesperson said. Asked if anyone did suggest this, the spokesperson replied: “No.” Asked if Truss was concerned about ministers discussing the need to replace her in private, the spokesperson said:

Her view is she needs to be focused on what is right for the country rather than on any internal discussions among the party at the moment.

But, as the Mirror’s Dan Bloom reports, another answer from the spokesperson suggested ministers were not necessarily 100% supportive.

Asked if ministers offered their support to the Liz Truss in today’s Cabinet meeting, her spokesman replied: “I think certainly ministers were, um, er, very, er, involved in the discussions around, erm, preparations for the Medium Term Fiscal Plan.”https://t.co/oab6TZH1Ip

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) October 18, 2022

  • Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, told ministers that, although spending would rise overall, departments would have to make savings, the PM’s spokesperson said. But Hunt said cuts or savings should be focused on areas where frontline services would not be affected. The spokesperson said:

[Hunt told cabinet] public spending would continue to rise overall but that departments would continue to be asked to look at finding ways to save taxpayers’ money, with public spending standing at around £1 trillion currently.

The chancellor said this work should focus on areas which should not affect the service the public receives.

Asked if the Department of Health and Social Care would have to find savings too, the spokesperson said Hunt addressed this in the Commons yesterday. Hunt refused to commit to protecting the health budget, but he said as a former health secretary he was well aware of the pressures it faced.

Truss no longer committed to maintaining triple lock on pensions, No 10 says

Liz Truss is no longer publicly committed to defending the triple lock – the guarantee that the state pension will rise every year in line with inflation, earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is highest. In their 2019 manifesto the Conservatives said they would “keep the triple lock” and in interviews only two weeks ago, during the party conference, Truss confirmed that she was still “committed” to it.

Not any more. At the Downing Street lobby briefing after cabinet, the PM’s spokesperson refused to say that Truss still feels bound by this. He did not say it would definitely go, but he clearly signalled that it is up for negotiation. Asked if Truss was still committed to the triple lock, he replied:

We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are. And, indeed, our priority ahead of this fiscal plan will be to ensure we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.

The chancellor has been clear, the prime minister and the chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point.

But, as I say, the decisions will be seen through the prism of both what matters most to the most vulnerable …

[The PM’s] view, and the chancellor’s view, is that at this point it is not right to start pre-empting a collective piece of work which needs to be carried out across government on all spending.

Although the spokesperson said the commitment to the triple lock no longer applies, he said Truss was still committed to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has signalled he would resign if Truss were to abandon that pledge.

Asked why Truss would not commit to the triple lock, but would commit to raising defence spending, the spokesperson said that the defence pledge related to 2030, and that it had been made in the context of the war in Ukraine and the UK’s membership of Nato.

The questions about the triple lock were triggered by comments that Jeremy Hunt, the new chancellor, made in the Commons yesterday. Downing Street echoed the language used by Hunt, who told MPs:

I am very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are, and of the importance of the triple lock. As I said earlier, I am not making any commitments on any individual policy areas, but every decision we take will be taken through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable.

With the inflation rate for September expected to be around 10%, keeping the triple lock would see pensions rise by that amount for 2023-24. With Hunt looking for savings in all areas of government spending, it is not hard to see why abandoning it for a year might be tempting.

Last year the triple lock was suspended for 2022-23 because Covid led to a freak 8% rise in earnings, as wages soared back up after the end of lockdown. Ministers argued that it would be unreasonable to give pensioners 8% because of distortions in the labour market, and instead a “double lock” was imposed, with pensioners guaranteed a rise in line with inflation or 2.5%.

But the government had said the triple lock would apply again for 2023-24.

Tory members think MPs should choose unity candidate to replace Truss, rather than hold new ballot, poll suggests

The YouGov poll also suggests that, if Truss were to stand down, party members think the best option would be for MPs to agree on a single unity candidate as a replacement. This is what happened in 2003, when Iain Duncan Smith lost a confidence vote and was replaced by Michael Howard.

Some MPs have been worried about the membership feeling snubbed if they were to be shut out of the selection process in this way, but the YouGov poll suggests that members would prefer MPs to select a unity candidate than a normal contest. This probably reflects their fear that another contest so soon after the last one would look ridiculous.

Members think the worst option would be for MPs to hold a contest, but for members to be refused a say as a result of an agreement that the runner-up in the parliamentary contest would withdraw from the contest at that point. This is what happened in 2016, when Theresa May became leader after Andrea Leadsom pulled out once she was on the final ballot. Leadsom’s decision was a personal one, which took the party by surprise. But some MPs have floated the idea that, if Truss does resign, candidates should only be allowed to stand on condition that they would accept the winner of the MPs’ ballot.

Poll of Tory members on how a replacement for Truss could be chosen Photograph: YouGov

Majority of Tory members think Truss should resign, poll suggests

A majority of Conservative party members – including 39% of members who voted for her in the summer – think Liz Truss should resign, according to new polling from YouGov.

In his analysis of the polling, YouGov’s Matthew Smith says 55% figure for members who say Truss should resign is similar to 59% who wanted Boris Johnson to quit shortly before he did announce his departure.

Asked who should replace Truss if she were to resign in the next few weeks, Boris Johnson came top (on 32%), ahead of Rishi Sunak (23%) and Ben Wallace (10%).

But the poll also suggests that members would be almost equally happy with either Johnson, Wallace or Sunak. Penny Mordaunt and Jeremy Hunt are not far behind.

Polling of Tory members on who would be a good replacement for Liz Truss
Polling of Tory members on who would be a good replacement for Liz Truss Photograph: YouGov

Headteachers in England to be balloted on industrial action over pay and funding, union says

Headteachers in England are to be balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and funding, the school leaders’ union has said.

As PA Media reports, speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said the union’s members have told him they “cannot continue to run their schools in the current circumstances, and “neglect” of pay and funding is “eroding” education.

He said he has written to Kit Malthouse, the education secretary, to say they are “officially in dispute” and school leaders across England and Wales will be balloted.

The NAHT said a survey responded to by 64% of its members found 84% of respondents indicated they wanted to be balloted on taking action short of a strike, with 55% wanting to be balloted on taking strike action.

Left to right: Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch and Kit Malthouse leaving No 10 after cabinet this morning.
Left to right: Penny Mordaunt, Kemi Badenoch and Kit Malthouse leaving No 10 after cabinet this morning.
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

TUC leader Frances O’Grady calls for general election now

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, has called for a general election now.

In her final speech to a TUC conference before she stands down, O’Grady told delegates in Brighton:

Some say Liz Truss must go. I think they’re wrong. This whole rotten Tory government must go. The Tories are toxic. It’s time for change. We need a general election now.

O’Grady described the government’s plan to lift the cap on bankers’ bonuses, while public sector pay is being held down, as “Robin Hood in reverse”. She went on:

I have a message for Liz Truss: working people are proud of the jobs we do; we work hard. We work the longest hours in Europe.

Yet, thanks to your party’s 12 years in government, millions are struggling to make ends meet. We don’t need lectures on working harder. This country needs a proper plan for fairer, greener growth.

She also said it was not a time for pay restraint.

It’s time for profit restraint. Taxpayers helped business with their bills. Now it’s time to make business play their part. No lay-offs this winter. No boardroom bonanzas and no shareholder sprees. Put the cap back on the bankers’ bonuses. Let’s have a bigger windfall tax on greedy energy giants, and don’t just bail out them out – bring them into public ownership.

Frances O’Grady with Paul Nowak, the TUC deputy general secretary, on the beach at Brighton yesterday, ahead of the start of the TUC conference.
Frances O’Grady with Paul Nowak, the TUC deputy general secretary, on the beach at Brighton yesterday, ahead of the start of the TUC conference. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Daily Mail and Sun close to urging Tories to abandon Truss and replace her with new leader

In the Conservative leadership contest in the summer, Liz Truss was strongly endorsed by all the main pro-Tory newspapers. The Times did back Rishi Sunak, but it is not pro-Tory in the way that the Daily Telegraph or the Daily Mail are, and is better understood as a pro-establishment paper.

But now two of the most influential rightwing papers, the Daily Mail and the Sun, have all but given up on her. They are both saying that if Truss cannot rescue the situation quickly, the Tories should replace her.

In its leader this morning, the Daily Mail says that Truss’s authority is “as good as shot” and that it may be time for her party to get rid of her. It says.

By lurching from crisis to self-inflicted crisis, the Conservatives risk irrevocable damage to the party, its electoral fortunes and, as a result, the whole country.

It’s time for the wise men and women of the Conservative party to decide whether the loss of confidence in Miss Truss is terminal. If it is, they must come to a solution – and fast – that can command the support of MPs and millions of Tory voters looking on in horror.

The editorial appears alongside an article by Stephen Glover saying that Truss’s stint as PM is “plainly over” and suggesting she should stand aside for someone else. As Alan Rusbridger, the former Guardian editor points out, today’s editorial (on the right) is a contrast with what the Mail was saying about Truss in the summer (on the left).

The Sun’s editorial says much the same. Describing the thought of Truss taking PMQs tomorrow as “almost tragic”, it says Rishi Sunak or Ben Wallace would be preferable. It says:

So what happens next? The thought of a broken PM having to appear at PMQs tomorrow is almost tragic. Yet allies insist she wants to fight on — and Tory MPs have no clear plan to replace her.

What is not needed now is either an election, or another interminable leadership contest.

If Truss cannot quickly sort herself out, the grown-ups need to get in a room with 1922 Committee chairman, Graham Brady, and agree a peaceful transition to a sensible figure like Rishi Sunak or Ben Wallace.

This is from my colleague Pippa Crerar.

‘The ghost PM’: what the papers say about Liz Truss’s hold on power

This morning’s papers make dire reading for No 10. My colleague Samantha Lock has a summary.

Cabinet is over, Sky’s Sam Coates reports.

Cabinet leave Number 10 – avoiding cameras, grim faces

— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) October 18, 2022

Ministers want to change the law to prevent former RAF pilots from training the Chinese military, amid reports at least 30 British personnel are believed to have taken advantage of “very generous” recruitment packages offered by the superpower. My colleague Jamie Grierson has the story here.



Liz Truss refuses to commit to triple lock on pensions despite backing it two weeks ago – UK politics live | Politics Source link Liz Truss refuses to commit to triple lock on pensions despite backing it two weeks ago – UK politics live | Politics

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