'For The Birds': Lib Dem MP Slams Ed Davey's Defence Of Pensions Triple Lock

A Lib Dem MP has accused party leader Ed Davey of “gaslighting” millennials over his defence of the pensions triple lock.

Prime minister Andy Burnham announced on Tuesday that the policy, which determined how much the state pension rises by each year, is being “adjusted” to save money.

At the moment, the pension increases by whichever is greater out of the rate of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5%.

Burnham said that from 2030, the inflation and 2.5% elements will stay, but that it will only be linked to long-term wage growth.

Downing Street said that will save taxpayers £50 billion by 2040, with the money being used to help fund a new National Care Service.

On Radio 4’s Today programme, Davey said the plan would “put more pensioners into poverty” and hurt younger workers in the long-term.

He said: “We already have nearly two million pensioners in poverty. This would mean that people who are working hard now, the millennials, when they retire they’d have a very poor pension.”

But Lib Dem MP Tom Gordon told his leader that he was talking “nonsense”.

In a post on X, he said: “The idea that we’re keeping the triple lock to help millennials is at best for the birds, and at worst downright insulting. I say that as a millennial.”

The Harrogate and Knaresborough MP said Davey’s suggestion that younger voters would eventually suffer “gaslights an entire generation into believing it’s for our benefit”.

“Telling millennials we’re keeping the triple lock to help us in 30 years’ time is nonsense,” he said.

“We’re on course to be the first generation worse off than our parents. We’re locked out of the housing market, paying higher taxes, repaying student loans that never seem to shrink, and putting off having children because of the cost of living.

“I joined this party because I care about fairness and tackling inequality, and that has to include inequality between generations. This line, and this decision, fails on both counts. Ed needs to think again.”

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