Prime Minister protects state pension triple lock
Boris Johnson confirms government will not raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT for five years
28th May 2020 13:00
by Brean Horne from interactive investor
Boris Johnson confirms government will not raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT for five years
Retired workers will continue to have their state pensions protected by the triple lock guarantee, according to a new commitment made by Boris Johnson yesterday.
The triple lock is a legal guarantee that the state pension will rise in line with the highest of average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%.
It was introduced in 2011 to ensure that the average pensioner household income increased each year regardless of their economic circumstances.
During the session, Mel Stride, a Conservative Party MP, asked the Prime Minister whether he could give “categorical assurance” that the triple lock along with other manifesto pledges would be protected.
Mr Johnson responded: “We are going to meet all of our manifesto commitments. Unless I specifically tell you otherwise."
Experts have previously called for the government to scrap the triple lock to help pay for the mounting cost of financial support offered during the pandemic.
The Treasury also urged the government to cut state pension triple lock to help cover the coronavirus bill, just two weeks ago.
In a letter to the Chancellor it claimed that £8 billion could be saved per year by getting rid of the guarantee.
Other conservative manifesto pledges
The Conservative Party has also pledged to to introduce a "triple tax lock," as part of its manifesto.
This means ruling out any increases in the rate of income tax, National Insurance (NI) tax and VAT for five years.
The government also committed to raising the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 in 2020 with an ambition to increase it to £12,500.
In the Budget 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the NI threshold would increase from £8,632 to £9,500 from 6 April 2020.
This article was originally published in our sister magazine Moneywise, which ceased publication in August 2020.
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