Rishi Sunak has pledged to stick to the pension triple lock despite signs the guarantee to older people will cost the Treasury an extra £10bn next year – £2.5bn more than estimated in the spring budget.
The prime minister insisted he was comfortable with pensioners receiving the full annual uplift. The state pension costs the taxpayer £124bn this year and is on course to rise by a further 8% in April, according to the latest economic data.
