KEMI PLEDGES BLITZ ON BENEFITS (but the triple lock is safe with the Tories...)

PENSIONERS must not be stripped of the triple lock which protects them from poverty but benefits cash should be taken away from people who do not deserve help, Kemi Badenoch has declared.

- By David Williamson CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR

The Conservative leader pledged she would "stand by" the system which ensures the state pension rises by at least 2.5% and keeps up with wage growth and inflation.

Mrs Badenoch, who attacked the "mess" Labour has made of the economy, dismissed calls for the policy to be scrapped and instead urged Sir Keir Starmer to work with her to bring down welfare spending - which she warns is on course to pass £190billion by 2030.

She said: "Some people say that instead of tackling welfare we should look at the triple lock on pensions. But I've been clear: the Conservatives created the triple lock, we've always protected it and we stand by it.

"If Labour hadn't made such a mess of our economy, no one would be discussing the viability of the triple lock."

Efforts to bring down government spending should start, she added, with "tackling the people who aren't contributing, who are taking out of the system and not putting in".