Misconceptions following Burnham’s speech

The Prime Minister’s conference speech was a week ago, but there is still plenty of confusion about how it should be interpreted. Indeed that confusion may be partly shared by Burnham himself. Here is what I think it all means. The Triple Lock The Triple Lock is the way the UK state pension has been uprated every year for more than a decade, and it has led to pensions rising faster than earnings. Whatever you may think about this so far, it is clearly unsustainable in the long run without additional tax rises or spending cuts, given that the state pension is paid for by those currently working, and the ratio of those receiving a pension to those working is rising not falling. This unsustainability is clear in the OBR’s long term projections that I discussed here. The UK state pension is well below the level in many European countries, but that is because the UK has always had a mixed system of public and work-based pensions. There is a good argument for increasing the state element in…