Watch the moment GB News host Martin Daubney and David Pinto Duschinsky descend into a bitter row after Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced he is scrapping the triple lock.
Challenging the Labour MP on Mr Burnham’s decision, Martin accused the Government of “pickpocketing pensioners again” following the controversial Winter Fuel Allowance scrap.
Asking Mr Pinto Duschinsky why the Prime Minister has decided to axe the triple lock, Martin told the MP: “British pensioners once again have been picked pocketed by the Labour Party.
“The Winter Fuel Allowance, you did it before. That was electoral suicide, you lost 18 points in like a week, and now you’re at it again. No cuts to benefits, you’re simply going for pensioners. Why?”
Mr Pinto Duschinsky responded: “No, what we saw today from Andy Burnham is true leadership and giving us hope based on honesty, taking on brave and bold decisions to actually take on the problems that have held the country back for too long.
“It’s a better deal for pensioners, a better deal for the young, control that so many other people have promised but failed to deliver. I think it’s going to be putting the country back on the right path after years where it’s been on the wrong one.”
As Martin was astounded at the Labour MP’s defence of the decision, he then argued that it is not a “scrap” of the triple lock, but merely an “adjustment”.
He explained: “We’re not scrapping the triple lock, we are adjusting it in 2030, so keeping it for the length of this Parliament and adjusting it. We’ve actually ignored those who said get rid of it, including many on the Conservative benches.
Martin Daubney has clashed with David Pinto-Duschinsky in a bitter triple lock row
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GB NEWS
“But we’re adjusting it to make sure that none of your viewers face the disaster of having their homes taken, having their savings taken because of social care costs.”
Mr Pinto Duschinsky stressed that the cost of social care today could “potentially bankrupt” Britain’s pensioners.
He told GB News: “Today, we have a system where if you catch cancer, the NHS will give you your treatment for free. But if, unfortunately, you suffer dementia or other afflictions of old age, the social care could potentially bankrupt you.
“One in seven of your viewers, that will happen to them – that is ending. This is a prospectus to make the elderly better off, strong pensions and strong social care.”
Andy Burnham as revealed a major triple lock shake-up in his Labour Party Conference speech
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PAPressed by Martin on how much the decision will cost, the Labour MP refused to disclose the financial impact of the policy.
He hit back at Martin: “You’ve actually seen the Prime Minister make a brave and bold choice to take steps on the triple lock, to adjust it, to create the basis for a national care service.
“That’s something that politicians have shied away from for a very long time, just as politicians have shied away from proper action on housing, just as politicians have shied away from, for too long, taking back control of our utilities to make sure that bills are kept low.”
Challenging Mr Pinto Duschinsky again, Martin asked: “Hope doesn’t pay for anything. What’s it gonna cost, David? And where’s the money coming from? You don’t know!
Mr Pinto Duschinky said Mr Burnham’s speech was ‘brave and bold’ and ‘based on honesty’
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GB NEWS
“This is fag packet politics. It sounds great and it’s completely and utterly unconscious?”
He told Martin: “The detail comes out next year with the Casey Review, as everyone’s always agreed. We’ve already laid out a basis for paying for things, and the fact is, you know as well as I that is a brave and bold move based in honesty, that is going to deliver for Britain’s pensioners.
“It is an undoubtedly better deal for British pensioners. We will be sat here in a few years time, having ended the catastrophe of people losing their homes, losing their savings, families left with nothing because of the action Andy Burnham is taking.
“That Government after Government shied away from, that is a cause for hope, that is a cause for celebration. That is real leadership, and that’s what we’ve seen today from this Prime Minister.”