Burnham is told axing pension triple lock would be ‘electoral suicide’ as he prepares to address Labour conference – UK politics live

Union leader says getting rid of triple lock not ‘the right thing’ as the PM prepares to lay out his ‘hope comes from honesty’ vision in Liverpool this afternoon

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Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, has been doing a media round this morning. In interviews, she stressed that Labour is committed to keeping the pensions triple lock for the duration of this parliament. But she did not deny reports that Andy Burnham might use his speech to suggest that it should go in the next parliament. (See 8.40am.)

She told Sky News:

We are committed to the triple lock. It’s in our manifesto. The triple lock has really delivered for pensioners, in this country, over the course of this parliament …

I don’t know what Andy’s going to say about that today, but I know that what he’s talking about is this big conversation about solving these big problems, but being really honest with people that they come at a cost.

We can’t carry on as we are. Politics-as-usual has taken Britain backwards. More of the same isn’t good enough and isn’t going to get us where we need to be.

Hope comes from honesty and from saying the things politicians usually avoid.