Rishi Sunak plays games with triple lock while pensioners struggle

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are keeping 12.5million pensioners in suspense. This is no time to play games as pensioners make tough decisions over whether to eat or heat their homes.The nation is trapped in a guessing game over whether the state pension triple lock will be scrapped for the second year in a row.Applying the triple lock was a Conservative Party manifesto commitment at the 2019 election, and older voters went to the polls with that pledge in mind.Yet instead of a moral obligation, it has turned into a political toy.It was Sunak who scrapped it for the current financial year, when he was Chancellor. Now its fate rests in his hands once again.We may not discover his verdict until November 17, when Hunt stands up to deliver his postponed autumn statement. This leaves fearful pensioners facing an anxious few weeks.The triple lock increases the state pension each year either by inflation, earnings or 2.5 percent, whichever is highest.It would have given pensioners an increase of 8.3 percent this year, in line with earnings, but Sunak slashed that to 3.1 percent. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is putting unnecessary added pressure on pensioners (Image: Getty)His decision cost somebody claiming the full new state pension around £481 a year, money urgently needed as prices rocket.From next April, the triple lock would increase both the old and new state pension by September’s inflation figure of 10.1 percent, if applied.That would lift the basic state pension to £8,121.20 a year and the new one to £10,600.20, for pensioners who maxed out their National Insurance contributions. Many get much less and feel robbed.That 10.1 percent increase would cost HM Treasury £10billion a year. Hiking the state pension in line with earnings instead, up 5.5 percent in the year to September, would save roughly £5billion.That would close some of the estimated £50 billion black hole in the nation’s finances. No wonder Sunak and Hunt are tempted.So far, Hunt has refused to be drawn on whether the triple lock will apply, while Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi has also refused to commit to it.READ MORE: Daily Express campaign urges Sunak to protect pension triple lockSunak himself has said he would act to “protect the most vulnerable”, which surely includes pensioners, who are scrapping by on fixed incomes while prices rocket.Yet those words could mean almost anything.Everyone understands the gravity of the situation, as Sunak must convince financial markets that the UK economy is on a sound footing.Yet we are in a stronger position than many realise.By 2025, our budget deficit will be just 1.4 percent of GDP, the IMF reckons. This compares well with Italy (three percent), Spain (four percent), France (five percent) and the US (seven percent).By 2027 our national debt will have fallen to 68 percent of GDP. That is way better than France (118 percent), the US (135 percent) and Italy (142 percent).DON’T MISS:Whisper it, but UK may avoid meltdown this winter as Sunak gets luc…[GUIDE]Scottish independence would be a huge financial success – for England [INSIGHT]Woman, 70, fights British Gas over energy bill errors and wins [REVEAL] Chancellor Jeremy Hunt may be enjoying himself, but pensioners aren’t (Image: Getty)I’m not disputing that spending cuts have to be made, and taxes increased. None of the decisions will be easy, or popular.There are also questions over whether the triple lock is affordable in the longer run, as the nation ages.That’s an argument for another time.Right now, the triple lock needs to be protected. Pensioners have been through a year of hell, as their incomes shrink in real terms while the price of everyday essentials soars.Most can’t generate more cash, as they they are too old or too ill to work, or both.The last thing they need is this will they/won’t they dallying over a manifesto commitment that helped put the Tory party in power.Sunak has said that manifesto is his mandate, given that the electorate have not voted for him personally.Now he needs to stand by that and apply the triple lock in full.