The former Conservative leader William Hague has said it is time to ditch the triple lock on pensions – as figures showed the policy meant the state pension was likely to rise by 8.5% in April.
The cabinet minister Michelle Donelan later mounted a defence of the lock, which means increases in the state pension should be in line with whichever is highest of the average earnings increase, inflation or 2.5%. But the scale of the likely increase presents questions for both the Tories and Labour.
