ALBA Slam Labour for failing to back Pensions Triple Lock

Alba Party have accused the Labour Party of “another U-Turn in the making” after they failed to pledge to protect the Pensions triple lock.

Speaking ahead of her speech at the TUC conference today, Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner MP failed to commit to an incoming Labour Government keeping the Pension Triple Lock in place.

The triple lock ensures that the full basic state pension rises every year in line with the highest of three factors: wage growth, inflation or 2.5%. Alba Party say that this is essential to make sure that “one of the worst pensions in Europe doesn’t allow pensioners to fall even further behind.”

However, asked by the BBC if Labour were committed to keeping the triple lock in place, Rayner answered “ we will have to wait and see where we are at a General Election and we see the finances. We will not make unfunded spending commitments.”

Alba Party’s Westminster leader Neale Hanvey MP has now slammed “the latest Labour u-turn in the making”. Mr Hanvey says that the Labour Party’s “wait and see con is an intentional tactic to allow Labour to creep into power without promising to do anything different from the Tories.”

When it was put to Angela Rayner that the Labour Party manifesto in 2019 committed to protecting the pending triple lock she responded that since then “the Government have crashed the economy and we are in a very different place. What Labour have said is we will look at that in the run up to a General Election but we will not make unfunded spending commitments.”

Commenting ALBA Party Westminster leader Neale Hanvey MP said:

“First it was the two child cap, then it was the Bedroom Tax, now protecting the Triple Lock for Pensions is the latest Labour u-turn in the making. It does beg the question of ‘what is the point of Labour?’.

“Angela Rayner and the Labour Party’s mantra of ‘we need to wait and see the finances’ doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Politics is about choices. The renewal of Trident Nuclear Weapons will cost over £200 Billion but Labour are happy to commit to that.

“The UK State Pension is already one of the worst in Europe and devotes a smaller percentage of its GDP to state pensions and pensioner benefits than most other advanced economies. The Triple Lock is vital to make sure that pensioners don’t fall further behind and even further into poverty.

“The Labour Party are trying to creep into Government without promising to do anything different from the Tories. For Scots it becomes more clearer with every Labour U-Turn that only with independence can we create a fairer country.”