Liz Truss is no longer standing by her commitment to increase state pensions in line with soaring inflation as her imperilled leadership is overhauled by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
Downing Street indicated ministers could ditch their commitment to the triple lock as the new Chancellor brought in to save her ailing leadership searches to plug a multi-billion pound black hole. Mr Hunt told colleagues at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that they must find savings from their departmental budgets.
As recently as October 2 Ms Truss was clear state pensions would increase in April by whichever is highest - 2.5%, wages or inflation. She said in BBC interview: "I've committed to the triple lock. Yes."
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But, after replacing Kwasi Kwarteng in the Treasury after their disastrous mini-budget, Downing Street backed down on this pledge. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We are very aware of how many vulnerable pensioners there are and indeed our priority ahead of this fiscal plan is we continue to protect the most vulnerable in society.
"The Prime Minister and the Chancellor are not making any commitments on individual policy areas at this point, but as I say the decisions will be made through the prism of what matters most to the most vulnerable."
The spokesman did, however, stand by the commitment of increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. In the Commons on Monday, Mr Hunt did not rule out the triple lock being suspended as he refused to make any commitments on "individual policy areas".
Around 12.5 million people who receive the state pension could be dealt a real-terms cut in earnings if their payments do not rise in line with inflation, standing at around 10%. On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics will publish the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation, on which changes to benefits and pension payments are calculated.
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