BURNHAM SIGNALS PENSIONS TRIPLE LOCK REVIEW TO FUND CARE

Andy Burnham is expected to signal a willingness to review the pensions triple lock to help fund a national care service, in his first speech as Labour leader at the party's conference in Liverpool. Government sources said he would stop short of pledging to scrap the policy outright. The triple lock guarantees the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest of inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5%. Burnham is expected to promise an "honest conversation" with the public about difficult issues, including social care, telling delegates "hope comes from honesty".

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham called ending the triple lock "electoral suicide", saying the Conservative Party and Reform UK would attack the move. She said the prospect was not raised when Unite met Burnham this week, and that funding care by removing "security" from pensioners receiving around £12,500 a year would be "morally wrong". Labour's deputy leader, Lucy Powell, said the party remained committed to the triple lock in its 2024 manifesto, but would not say whether it could be dropped from a future one. She told Sky News the policy had "delivered for pensioners" and that solving problems such as social care "come at a cost".

Chancellor John Healey told the BBC the manifesto "will be the manifesto at the time" and said Burnham would set out "an argument about why we must act". Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the government was "sticking to" its manifesto commitment to the triple lock. Burnham's speech is also expected to set out plans for free social care in England, alongside measures on youth unemployment and public control of utilities. It forms part of a conference built around the theme "Hope Again".