Badenoch admits it would be 'difficult' to restore triple lock if Burnham scraps the pension guarantee
From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026 · last updated 6 October 2026.
Kemi Badenoch, who told a radio interviewer to "speak to a defence expert" when pressed on basic questions about the £10bn Britannia Shield missile plan her party simultaneously described as "in essence a British Iron…Iron Dome interceptors streak across the night sky over Tel Aviv; the Tories' £10bn Britannia Shield scheme has been described in party materials as "modelled on Israel's Iron Dome," though former RAF Air Marshal Greg…
Kemi Badenoch has refused to promise the Conservatives would reverse Labour's dismantling of the state pension triple lock, warning it would prove "difficult" if Andy Burnham spends the redirected funds before the Tories can return to power. Burnham announced at Labour's party conference last week that the triple lock's automatic link to average earnings growth will be severed from 2030, with savings used to fund social care. Badenoch made the admission during a Times Radio interview at the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday morning.
Burnham's plan would replace the earnings link with a guarantee that pensions rise by at least CPI inflation or 2.5 per cent each year from 2030.
Badenoch insisted the triple lock 'remains our policy' but declined to commit to repealing any legislation Labour manages to pass before the next election, due by 2029.
'What I'm not going to do is lie to your listeners just so I can get votes,' Badenoch told Times Radio, acknowledging the money may be unrecoverable.
