Scrap triple lock and make elderly Britons work longer, says ex-Tory pensions chief

However, the Conservative Party looks set to debate the policy amid rumours senior Tory figures were privately in favour of changing the pension provisions.

A growing number of high-profile Tories have also publicly demanded changes to the triple lock, including Shadow Foreign Secretary Tom Tugendhat, Mrs Badenoch’s closest parliamentary aide Jack Rankin and ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

Speaking at a Centre for Policy Studies fringe event in Birmingham, Mr Green said: “A lot of people, when they get very old, do become frail.

“But there are a lot of people past retirement age who are not remotely frail and could — and frankly should — be working.”

Mr Green described Britons aged 50 and over as an “untapped resource” of workers, adding: “We could improve their lives, we could improve public finances and therefore improve the general cohesiveness of society if we use them better.”

The retirement age in the UK will soon increase from 66 to 67, putting it in line with comparable countries such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the US.

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However, the age is significantly higher than the 62-year-old retirement age currently in force in both France and Greece.

The UK also offers a far lower state pension package compared to its European counterparts, with the new £12,547.60 offering still being dwarfed by Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Ireland.

The triple lock, which raises the state pension each year by the highest of earnings, inflation or 2.5 per cent, costs taxpayers an estimated £11billion a year.

Andy Burnham announced last week that from April 2030 the pension will instead rise by the higher of inflation or 2.5 per cent to free up money to fund a new National Care Service.

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Mr Green also put forward a radical proposal to tear up the triple lock during his appearance at the Centre for Policy Studies fringe event.

The ex-Ashford MP, who described the triple lock as a “mechanical straitjacket”, said: “I think it was a good policy for its time.

“It lifted a lot of pensioners out of poverty, but we need to find a new way of ensuring that as many pensioners as possible stay out of poverty.

“But I do not think we should tie ourselves to the traditional triple lock. I would tie it more closely to earnings growth, so when the economy is growing, and people of working age are benefitting, then that benefit spreads to pensioners as well.

Mr Green added: “I think there will be a genuine debate now that will take place inside the Conservative Party and with the public.”

Mrs Badenoch has already been forced to clarify the Tory Party’s position on the triple lock after Shadow Housing Secretary Katie Lam told Conservative activists an “entirely new pension system” will be needed.

The Leader of the Opposition said: “The triple lock is our policy. We believe this is the right policy for pensioners.

“There is nothing that has happened that will make me change my mind.”

However, the row ignited a furious response from Mrs Badenoch’s rivals.

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said:”Before Kemi Badenoch’s conference has even started she’s failing to deal with Tory splits on the triple lock and secret plans for billions of pounds of cuts to public services.

“They reveal a Tory Party that is stuck in the past and remains completely out of touch with what people across Britain want to see.”

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick added: “Instead of cutting migrant welfare or mad net zero subsidies, they want to cut people’s pensions.

“They’re the same as the Labour Party. Only Reform can be trusted to protect our pensioners.”