Tottenham

Is it fair to author support for current and future pensioners to fix a broken social care system, or is this a betrayal of our future generations?

So, John, not wishing to rush to any conclusions, but I am assuming that the state's pension is something that might affect you.

And as I'm sure you're all aware, Andy Byrne and the Prime Minister announced this week an amendment to the triple lot, and I'll get you to explain that.

But what's your feeling about it?

I think this has been announced at the very height of the burn and bounce, which is convenient, and I think it may come back to bite him yet.

And failures in the social care system aren't just going to be fixed with money.

There's a lot more that needs to be looked at.

All

right.

So, Mietta, this is...

So, the current triple lock... where the state pension is increased each year by the highest of prices, average earnings or 2.5%.

So the Prime Minister has suggested an amendment to that.

And part of that, because certainly it's not going to be enough on its own, will pay for what he's calling a national care service.

So do you want to explain to John why that's a good idea?

Yeah, John.

Look, I think it is genuinely a complete travesty that our generation of politicians have failed to grip social care And anyone that has to take their loved ones through the care system and navigate through it will tell you harrowing stories of how it is failing us.

And so I think it is incredibly brave.

It is a hard thing politically to say, I'm not going to run away from this big issue, I'm going to run it.

And, you know, the fact that the Prime Minister has done that, and he's done that with the kind of clarity that comes from having experienced it himself, and said, we need to solve this once and for all, and to be really honest, that there will be trade-offs involved in that.

And so, yes, the triple lock will be adjusted, and we're doing that in a way that...

Firstly, we will honour our manifesto commitment where we said we would protect the triple lockers.

Secondly, we are designing this so that by 2030 the state pension will rise every single year with either inflation or 2.5%, whichever is highest, and that we will keep the relationship and the ratio between state pension and earnings.

But the savings from that we think will be about £15 billion a year by 2030.

And that money can go into a national care service with free personal care.

And that means we don't have the situation we have today where pensioners are having to either completely deplete their savings or sell their homes to get basic care.