Minister rejects Blair’s triple lock warning as ex-PM calls for ‘coherent plan’
A Treasury minister has rejected Sir Tony Blair’s call to curb the triple lock and defended net zero after the former prime minister mounted a scathing attack on Labour’s policy agenda.
Dan Tomlinson said “things have moved on” since the ex-Labour leader was in No 10 and he insisted increases to the state pension are sustainable long-term.
In a highly critical 5,700-word essay published on Wednesday, Sir Tony warned Labour is “playing with fire” over the UK’s future and lacks a “coherent plan”.
Amid ongoing leadership uncertainty, he urged the party’s MPs to avoid a “personality contest” or backing a change at the top without first deciding on its policy direction.
The former prime minister also called on Sir Keir Starmer to rip up Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s net zero targets and reduce the welfare budget, which he said risks outpacing defence spending by the end of the decade.
Speaking to broadcasters on Wednesday morning, Mr Tomlinson conceded the Government needs to make sure it is not spending “more money than we need to” on social security payments, “particularly” for young people who have been out of work for a long time.
But he said it is “important we have the triple lock and that we increase spending on pensioners”.
Asked whether the triple lock is sustainable long-term, he said: “Yes, I do support the triple lock, I think it’s the right policy, it was in our manifesto and I think it’s important that we make sure we’re protecting pensioners and protecting their living standards.”
He also disputed Sir Tony’s framing of Labour’s challenges, saying the party is not “stuck in this New Labour, old Labour battle, which (Sir Tony) talks about a lot in his essay”.
“That was a debate that was happening in the 1990s in the UK, which was pretty much around the time I was born,” Mr Tomlinson told BBC Breakfast.
“Things have moved on a lot since then.”
Sir Tony said if large increases in incapacity benefit along with the triple lock continues, “we’re going to create a situation where economically we’re not able to grow”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “at some point you’ve got to be able to stand up and have an honest debate with the public, which is to say, look, ultimately we’re probably taxing people too much, spending too much, borrowing too much at the moment”.
Asked whether he is proposing the Prime Minister tear up the Energy Secretary’s targets, he told Times Radio: “Yes, I am,” pointing to China, India and the US’ pursuit of cheap energy and electrification.
“Britain’s emissions are under 1% of global emissions, we can’t solve climate change, and to impose costs on our own businesses and consumers in order to accelerate net zero when the rest of the world is not doing so – I don’t understand the logic behind it, or shutting down our own oil and gas industry in circumstances where, again, I don’t know another country in the world that’s doing that.”
Asked whether that means Mr Miliband’s position in Government is untenable, Sir Tony replied: “It’s really a question of explaining to the country, and to Ed, that right now we need to get growth levels up, we need to recognise with this AI revolution that we’re going to need cheap energy.”
Elsewhere, Mr Tomlinson said the Labour administration’s governing purpose – a quality Sir Tony cited as crucial to a Government’s success – is “providing security” for the UK, including through net zero changes.
“That seems to be one of the driving and uniting forces of this Government, both in the short term – what are the changes we can make to help people with the cost of living… and what are the long-term changes we need on defence, on net zero, on making sure we can reduce our reliance on Putin’s gas?” he told Sky News.
Published: by Radio NewsHub