Rishi Warned On Ditching Pension Pledge

Older voters threaten to boycott Tories over triple lock ‘betrayal’ | Tories skating on thin ice with older voters

- Macer Hall

ANGRY voters are threatening to punish the Government at the polls if the triple lock pledge on pensions is broken.

If Rishi Sunak scraps the Tory vow it will be the “final straw”, say activists.

One pressure group said 96 per cent of its members back calls for an election boycott of the Tories. Dennis Reed, the director of Silver Voices, added: “The Government is skating on very thin ice.”

The organisation, which campaigns on issues affecting the over60s, predicted if the Chancellor stops pensions rising in line with average earnings, members would hit back.

Its warning comes after a series of financial blows such as the axing of free TV licences for most pensioner households and the failure to fix crumbling social care.

Mr Reed said: “Our members come from all political persuasions, but we are united in our determination to defend the triple lock, which guarantees that pensioner poverty will be kept in check.”

He continued: “There is a strong feeling that older voters are being taken for granted by the Government and that our pensions and benefits are being attacked to pay for the pandemic.

“The Government is skating on very thin ice already with its older supporters. If the Tories move to scrap or suspend the triple lock, the only strategy we will have left is to campaign against them.

“The UK is at the bottom of the league of all developed nations with our miserly state pension and – if the manifesto promise to keep the triple lock is broken – this will be the final straw for older voters.”

Mr Sunak, inset, signalled last month the Government may suspend the triple lock temporarily to save £3billion a year.