Tory MPs have voted again to scrap the triple lock as Chancellor Rishi Sunak prepares to launch a £5bn raid on pensioners' incomes next year.
The Government had faced a bid to block suspending the triple lock- amid warnings of a 'cost-of-living storm' that could push millions of older people into poverty.
It came after the House of Lords backed a cross-party move to keep the link between average earnings and retirement payouts.
But the Commons has rejected peers' amendment and now the Social Security (Uprating of Benefits) Bill is now on course to pass through parliament.
The triple lock mechanism, promised in the Conservative manifesto, guarantees state pension rises in line with inflation, earnings or 2.5% - whichever is higher.
It could have meant pensioners received a total rise of 8.3% next year - while many workers have been dealing with job losses, salary cuts and pay freezes.
But it is now due to rise from next April by 3.1% instead and some research suggests pensioners will be £169 worse off next year in real terms, due to inflation, as a result.
Ministers say the pandemic has skewed wage growth figures, producing a spike as a result of people having previously been furloughed and many low-paid jobs disappearing.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “For public trust to return the first step has to be for Government to keep its promises, so today Labour is supporting the amendment which would allow the Government to do just that and to keep their promise on the pensions triple lock.
“The Lords have sent us a very reasonable set of measures and frankly I see no logical reason not to support this amendment if you want to protect the link between earnings and pensions.
“If the Government are unable to do so, then they should admit that is what is really going on. They’re using the pandemic as a smokescreen to scrap the triple lock and pocket the savings. What they should do is cut the obfuscation, keep their promises and vote for this set of Lords amendments.”
Labour former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the House of Commons he does not understand why MPs are arguing about “robbing pensioners of £2.75 a week”.
He said: “I support these amendments. I would have given the 8% because I don’t believe you break a principle of a manifesto commitment. I believe the additional top-up would have worked.
“But if we are talking about the Altmann amendment, which is moving towards a 5% increase, the Government will award 3%, so the difference we are talking about, the argument is about £2.75 a week. Or even if we went to the full amount of the 8%, it would be an additional £7 a week between the 3% and the 8%.
“Are we really having a row in this House about robbing pensioners of £2.75 a week? I just find it unbelievable that we can even contemplate that.”
The MP for Hayes and Harlington added: “I think this is a question about whether or not we are in favour of pensioners living in dignity in this coming period, and whether or not we can ensure they can turn on the heating, whether or not they have some decent quality of life.”
But work and pensions minister Guy Opperman said tying the pensions uprating to earnings is “not possible”.
He added a better estimate could not be reached, saying: “ONS experts investigated whether it was possible to produce a single robust figure for underlying earnings growth that stripped out impacts from the pandemic. They concluded this was not possible.
“I remind the House that over the two years of the pandemic the Government will have ensured that the pensions covered by this Bill will have increased by much more than the increase in prices."
