Andy Burnham has stirred a hornet's nest by planning to scrap the triple lock, and he is going to be stung very badly indeed, according to Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group.
Quite apart from the gross injustice of cutting this essential safeguard against pensioner poverty, he has now let it be known that he intends to force through his plans in this Parliament.
Manifesto pledge breach
Burnham would have no mandate for such a move, as Labour unequivocally promised in its 2024 manifesto that it would retain the triple lock for the state pension. Introducing legislation to scrap the lock in this Parliament would clearly breach that pledge.
It is hypocritical in the extreme that Burnham intends to put his social care plans to the electorate at the next General Election, but not the source of the funding for it.
Mass petition relaunched
It is obvious that Burnham recognises that his only option to break the lock is to use his huge majority, and his political honeymoon, to steamroller legislation through, before public dissent forces the possibility of a U-turn, as happened over the winter fuel fiasco.
Silver Voices has relaunched its mass petition to save the triple lock, which has already put on thousands more signatures, now approaching 300,000.
Lobbying campaign warning
Whenever he chooses to bring forward the legislation, the group will launch a mass lobbying campaign, warning MPs that their electoral chances will be severely damaged if they vote for this attack on poor pensioners.
The campaign points out that the large majority of pensioners receive the old state pension at the princely sum of £185 per week, and to reduce the relative value of that represents one of the evilest political moves in recent years. Labour intends to save £15 billion over 10 years by these plans, every penny pinched from state pensions that would have been received under the triple lock.
With the cost-of-living crisis spiralling out of control, millions of older people will be worrying about how they are going to heat their homes and feed themselves this winter. Reed said further threats to living standards are needed "like a hole in the head".
