The UK government’s “cost-of-living tsar” says the state pension “triple lock” should be changed or scrapped, arguing the policy is no longer affordable. Multiple outlets report that Lord Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland and an adviser appointed by Labour leader Keir Starmer in February, calls the system “mathematically unsustainable.”
The proposal centres on how state pensions are increased: under the triple lock, payments rise each year by the highest of three measures, including earnings growth and inflation figures. Walker is described as warning that the approach creates an ongoing financial burden for the state and that maintaining the current rules is not workable over time.
The reports also frame the comments as an attempt to push Labour toward alternative funding priorities, including potential investment in other areas. While the outlets focus on Walker’s criticism, they do not indicate an immediate policy decision by the government, and the reporting centres on his assessment that the mechanism is “unfair” and unsustainable rather than on confirmed plans to reform it.
