Robert Jenrick has vowed to give Britain’s pensioners “dignity and security” after Reform UK announced its intention to keep the triple lock.
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK Treasury Spokesman outlined his plan to “cut wasteful spending” to ensure Britons are secure in the “last decades of their lives”.
Thanks to the triple lock, state pension recipients are now receiving higher payments following a 4.8 per cent uplift, which comes into effect this month.
The new full state pension has risen from £230.25 to £241.30 weekly, marking one of the most substantial increases since the triple lock mechanism was established in 2011.
Declaring his commitment to maintain the triple lock, Mr Jenrick told GB News: “Well, we want to protect pensioners, but we know this is an expensive commitment. That’s why we took a lot of time to think about it carefully and be certain that when we make this commitment, we know that if we form the next Government, we’ll be able to meet it.
“But we can afford to do this as a country if we cut waste, if we do things that frankly only a Reform Government would do.”
Offering an example of how the party would cut wasteful spending, he explained: “We would not give foreign aid to rich countries, not give benefits to people who aren’t even British citizens, and not waste tens of billions on illegal migration.
“Get rid of all the net zero subsidies that are costing us tens and tens of billions, and above all, cut the welfare budget so that we always have a safety net for people of all ages who are finding life tough, but we don’t give tens and tens of billions to people who are choosing not to work.”
Robert Jenrick has vowed to give Britain’s pensioners ‘dignity and security’ as he vows to protect the pension triple lock
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GB NEWS
Stressing that far too many Britons are claiming Personal Independence Payments for conditions such as “low level anxiety”, Mr Jenrick told GB News: “Things like low level anxiety and mental health claims are enabling people to get Pip and benefits.
“A Reform Government is choosing to cut waste, cut public spending in those areas and support pensioners and give them dignity and security in the last decades of their lives, and I think that’s absolutely the right thing to do. And frankly, something people of all ages can get behind.”
Challenging the Reform MP, host Ellie Costello questioned how the party would “help young people” as well as the pensioners, as they will feel “forgotten”, despite their increasing support for Reform.
Mr Jenrick assured: “Young people want their parents and their grandparents to be able to live in a degree of comfort in old age.
How the state pension triple lock has changed over the years
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GB NEWS / FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL“No one wants to think of an 80-year-old having to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table, and that is a choice that many people are facing at the moment with the cost of living.
“But you’re right, we also have got to have hope for young people in this country, and that’s all about having good jobs, helping people to get on the housing ladder, bring people’s taxes and their bills down, and that is what a Reform Government also promises.”
The Treasury Spokesman told GB News: “Look at what’s happening at the moment – youth unemployment is going through the roof, it’s at recent record highs, it’s going to be as high or higher than almost anywhere in Europe this year, and absolutely nothing is being done by the Government to fix it.
“We want to get growth going again in the economy by having a different energy policy, so businesses can actually be competitive, and by bringing people’s taxes down, by cutting all that waste that we’re seeing at the moment.”
Mr Jenrick told GB News that ‘Britain is broken’ and the country is ‘in a mess’
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GB NEWS
Pushing back on Mr Jenrick’s remarks, host Stephen Dixon argued that a lot of their promises will “not be able to be delivered until the end of their parliament”.
Mr Jenrick admitted: “I don’t pretend the situation is going to be simple. The country at the moment is in a mess, and we at Reform think that Britain is broken like most people. It’s the other parties that pretend that it isn’t.
“So some of the things that we’re proposing will take time to deliver, you’re absolutely right, but others we know that we could do straight away. A Reform Government will stop the boats. Nigel as Prime Minister, Zia as Home Secretary, me as a Chancellor, backing them up, will do everything that it takes to stop that.
“And we have a plan leaving the ECHR immediately, getting rid of the merry go round of human rights claims, detaining and deporting everyone who lands on our shores illegally and yes, putting the Royal Navy into the English Channel rather than what Labour seem to be doing at the moment, which is pouring good money after bad, trying to constantly beg the French to help us.”