International Monetary Fund urges Reeves to end triple lock for pensioners
“This government and the chancellor have proven themselves only too willing to penalise the elderly, disabled, and those most vulnerable in our society. We must fight for the retention of the triple lock and health and social care services free at the point of need and use. ”
Workers Party regional spokesperson Nicola Grant has reacted to a report from the International Monetary Fund urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to consider ending the triple lock for pensioners. The ’triple lock’ guarantees that the UK state pension rises each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% - whichever is the highest. For example, the state pension rose by 4.1% in April 2025 as a result of the triple lock calculation.
Ms Grant said: "Whilst no one should be surprised that the International Monetary Fund would suggest that once again pensioners should be used to balance the books on the chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal rules, to also suggest paying for health care is outrageous.
"Sadly, this government and the chancellor have proven themselves only too willing to penalise the elderly, disabled, and those most vulnerable in our society. We must fight for the retention of the triple lock and health and social care services free at the point of need and use.
"A society is judged by how it treats its vulnerable. As far as the International Monetary Fund is concerned pensioners, the sick and those on welfare benefits are fair game when it comes to fiscal policy. They even suggest more welfare benefits could be means tested. It seems the IMF economists believe they are dealing with a government who would be quite willing to implement such changes."
People should not have to pay for health and social care services.
Ms Grant said: "It is hardly surprising that a capitalist institution like the IMF would feel free to make such suggestions, if the chancellor and the government want to control spending then they should make sure that the rich pay their taxes, that employers pay a real living wage and end the need for welfare benefits to top up low pay, as we the taxpayers are subsidising employers, not those on benefits.
"We must fight to ensure that our citizens are not pushed further into poverty and health inequalities in order to placate the chancellor and the International Monetary Fund."
Meanwhile, the UK is turning a blind eye to massive corruption
According to a 2025 report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption & Responsible Tax, hardly a cabal of Marxist-Leninists, the costs of economic crime and financial opacity on the UK are staggering, reaching £350 billion a year. This amounts to the annual health and education budgets combined. If piled in a stack of £50 notes, the amount of money taken by the rich from the exchequer every year would reach 700km into space.
Revenue and Customs (HMRC) told the Public Accounts Committee in February that it did not have a full estimate of all forms of offshore tax evasion. In May 2025, the National Audit Office revealed HMRC had compiled such an estimate, but it had not published it. Although it has the power to do so, HMRC has not fined a single enabler of offshore tax evasion or non-compliance in five years.
There’s no reference to the costs of criminality, fraud and corruption in the IMF report. Not to mention the routine, ‘legal’ methods by which employers squeeze profits from their workers.
9th August 2025