Reform’s Richard Tice warns triple lock is ‘unsustainable’ and public sector pensions pose ‘greater threat than local weather change’ to UK financial system
A Reform government could scrap the triple lock, its deputy leader has admitted as he warns that public sector pensions pose more of a risk to the economy than climate change.
Richard Tice branded the long-established policy, which guarantees pensioners’ incomes rise in real terms each year, ‘unsustainable’.
His comments came after party leader Nigel Farage refused to commit to keeping it if he becomes Prime Minister, given fears over the state of the economy by the time of the next election.
It makes Reform the only one of the main political parties not to remain wedded to the triple lock – which ensures that the state pension rises annually by whichever is highest out of inflation, wage growth or 2.5 per cent – as it is seen as a vote-winner for a crucial part of the electorate.
Asked by Times Radio on Tuesday if it was sustainable, Mr Tice replied: ‘No, and we’ve made it very clear that we’re not giving any guarantees on the triple lock. In the medium to long term, it’s unsustainable.’
Asked if a Reform government would get rid of it, he said: ‘Well, there are a variety of ways that you can look at stuff. What we’re saying is we’re absolutely not guaranteeing it. We’re the only party that does that.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and his deputy Richard Tice after meeting Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey in September
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice at the party’s conference in Birmingham
Mr Tice also claimed Reform is the only party brave enough to get to grips with unfunded public sector pension schemes, with the total liability estimated at more than £2trillion.
‘It’s heading north at a colossal rate every single year. It’s off balance sheets, so no one sort of sees it, but we all know it’s a major, major problem, and we’ve got to deal with it. And that requires political courage that we have.
‘Everything has to be on the table because we cannot allow our country to go bankrupt. That is the reality.’
In a speech on Wednesday, Mr Tice will go further, warning: ‘Unfunded pension scheme liabilities are much greater threat to British economy than climate change, yet there is almost no discussion about it in the political class.’
He will take part in a ‘fireside chat’ at the headquarters of financial data giant Bloomberg, as part of Reform’s new drive to improve its economic credibility.
It comes after party leader Mr Farage abandoned plans set out in last year’s manifesto for major tax cuts, admitting in a speech on Monday that they were not currently ‘realistic’ given the ‘dire state’ of public finances.
