The triple lock was forged with noble intentions, but in 2025 it’s become an expensive political relic, writes Tom Adcock

With economic growth stalling (if it even started) and Rachel Reeves potentially boxed in by her manifesto pledges, it’s time to take a hard look at the one area no Chancellor dares to touch.

As a tax accountant, I spend my days looking at the numbers that many prefer to ignore. And one number should make all of us sit up. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), maintaining the triple lock could add more than £45bn a year to pension costs by 2050 – the bill currently stands at £125bn out of a £1.2 trillion budget (or just over 10 per cent).

The triple lock guarantees that the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, average earnings or 2.5 per cent. It was designed to protect pensioners from poverty. A fair goal. But in practice, it has become an expensive political........

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