Kemi Badenoch has said she is willing to consider means-testing the triple lock.
The Conservative leader made the comments as she pledged to win back voters’ trust in the future by “telling the British people the truth even when it’s difficult to hear”.
The remarks follow a speech in which she said her party had announced crowd-pleasing policies without having a proper plan for how to implement them while in government and made “mistakes” on immigration and net zero.
She said she would consider the change as she promised an upcoming policy review would be radical and no new policies would be announced for two years.
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The guarantee, which was introduced by Lord Cameron’s government, ensures that the state pension rises by whichever is highest between inflation, average wage rises or 2.5 per cent and applies to everyone with a state pension.
She told an LBC phone-in: “We’re going to look at means-testing. Means-testing is something we don’t do properly here.”
She added: “The triple lock is a policy we supported throughout our 14 years in government but we need to make sure we are growing. Starting with the triple lock is not how to solve the problem…and we’ve got to give something to the next generation.”
Tory strategists for repeated recent general elections have seen the triple lock as key to the party’s appeal to older voters despite warnings from economists that it is unaffordable.
In September last year, it was revealed that Mrs Badenoch called for rich pensioners to be stripped of winter fuel payments during her Tory leadership campaign launch in 2022, arguing then that the benefit should be “means-tested”.
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The Tories have repeatedly criticised the Labour Government for stripping all but the poorest pensioners of the payments in one of its first acts in No 10.
A Tory source warned that Mrs Badenoch’s historic comments about the triple lock pension would weaken one of the Conservatives’ best attack lines against the Government, saying: “This is terrible. Labour’s decision to cut the winter fuel payment was our one effective attack on Labour. They’ll seize on these comments.”
Labour was quick to pounce on the comment. A Treasury source told The Telegraph: “Kemi Badenoch finally has her first policy – a cut to the state pension.”
A Labour spokesman said: “Kemi Badenoch has put pensioners on notice – she’s going to cut your state pension.”
Immigration
Earlier on Thursday she said migrants who “don’t want to integrate into British culture” should not be allowed to stay in the UK.
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The Tory leader said that Britain is “our home, not a hotel” and the nation needs to have a “tough, soul-searching” conversation about immigration.
She made the remarks in her first major speech of the year, in which she set out how the Conservatives intend to win back voters’ trust.
Mrs Badenoch admitted the party had made a series of mistakes on border controls, Brexit, and the introduction of net zero while in power.
She ruled out a merger with Reform but admitted Nigel Farage has had a “headstart” on her because of his experience as a leader.
The Tory leader warned that “we simply cannot take all the millions of people who want to come here from elsewhere”.
“Our country is our home, it is not a hotel,” she said. “If people arriving don’t want to integrate into British culture, they shouldn’t be here.
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“It is not controversial to say that, and that’s why we need new leadership.”
Winning back voters’ trust
It comes after Mrs Badenoch used her first major speech as Tory leader just before Christmas to apologise for the party’s record on migration.
She said that successive Conservative governments had promised to bring down numbers whilst overseeing record levels of new arrivals to Britain.
In that address she also warned that the sheer scale of immigration had made it “next to impossible to integrate those from radically different cultures”.
Mrs Badenoch said she would seek to win back voters’ trust in future by “telling the British people the truth even when it is difficult to hear”.
She said that politicians owe it to the next generation “to leave an inheritance for them and not mortgage their future to make our lives more comfortable”.
That will “demand the kind of tough soul-searching conversations we’re not having right now”, including on immigration, she added.
Mrs Badenoch used the address to once more distance her leadership from that of the previous Tory government she served in.
Too often the Tories had announced crowd-pleasing policies without having a proper plan for how to implement them, she admitted.
She also faced questions about the rise of Reform, which has leapfrogged the Tories in some recent polls to take second place behind Labour.
Mrs Badenoch rubbished the suggestion, made by some in her own party, that the two Right-wing parties could merge to form the next government.
Asked about a possible pact, she said: “Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. Why on earth would we merge with that?”
The former business secretary also admitted as she gets used to her new job that she does not yet always have “the perfect language or the perfect presentation”.
She admitted the Reform leader has had a “headstart” on her because of his past experience leading the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party.
“Nigel Farage has been knocking around for 20 plus years,” she said. “He has been leading all sorts of different parties so he has had a headstart.
“I have been leading the Conservative Party for 10 weeks. Let’s see where we are in a few months and a few years.”
Mr Farage mocked her speech on social media as she was delivering it, posting: “A total of 21 people are currently watching Kemi Badenoch’s speech on Facebook and her YouTube stream crashed.
“It’s a good job she understands the digital age.”
‘In complete denial’
Responding to the speech Ellie Reeves, the Labour Party Chair, said: “Kemi Badenoch is in complete denial.
Far from rebuilding trust, Kemi Badenoch still can’t bring herself to be honest about the true litany of mistakes the Conservatives made over 14 years of failure in government.
“The Tories haven’t listened and they haven’t learnt and Kemi Badenoch should own up to the damage she and the Conservative Party have done to the country.”
03:15 PM GMT
That is all for today…
Thank you for joining me for this politics live blog.
03:05 PM GMT
Telegraph readers react to Badenoch’s speech
Readers in the comments section of today’s live blog are busy discussing Kemi Badenoch’s first major speech of 2025 and whether the Tories will be able to win back voter trust:
02:49 PM GMT
Stride praises ‘honest and powerful’ Badenoch speech
Honest and powerful speech from Kemi.
We owe it to the next generation to leave an inheritance for them and not to mortgage their future, as this Labour Chancellor is doing. By rebuilding the Conservative Party we are going to deliver.
— Mel Stride (@MelJStride) January 16, 2025
02:37 PM GMT
Lib Dems: Badenoch speech nothing more than a half-hearted apology
The Liberal Democrats described Kemi Badenoch’s speech as a “half-hearted apology” which will not win back voters.
Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Lib Dems, said: “It will take a lot more than this half-hearted apology for the people of this country to forgive or forget the toxic legacy of the Conservative government, in which Badenoch herself so prominently served.
“Badenoch claimed that Boris Johnson’s partygate scandal was overblown, cheered on Liz Truss’s mini budget and oversaw botched trade deals that sold out British farmers.
“As the Conservatives continue to rake over their sorry past, we Liberal Democrats will continue to put forward plans to drive Britain’s future.”
02:28 PM GMT
Badenoch stands by Reform UK membership numbers claim
Kemi Badenoch said she stood by her claim that Reform’s membership numbers were inaccurate.
She said: “I stand by the tweet I made at the time. I think if you read it very carefully you will see that I was very specific. But I don’t think the public are interested in litigating membership numbers. They want tpo know what we are going to do for them.”
02:24 PM GMT
Farage has head start on me as a party leader, says Badenoch
It was suggested to Kemi Badenoch that her speech this afternoon was a bit “depressing” and “joyless”.
She said: “I think that this is a great question. I am speaking based on where the Conservative Party is. We have just suffered our greatest ever defeat. Ever, ever, in hundreds of years.
“I don’t think the public will start trusting us if I turn up looking like I am having a great time and everything is fantastic.
“I want them to know that we understand why they asked for change…”
She added: “Nigel Farage has been knocking around for 20 plus years. He has been leading all sorts of different parties so he has had a head start.
“I have been leading the Conservative Party for 10 weeks. Let’s see where we are in a few months and a few years.”
02:19 PM GMT
Badenoch takes aim at Reeves
Kemi Badenoch was asked why she had raised Rachel Reeves’ gender when she claimed earlier that Sir Keir Starmer has a “woman problem” (see the post below at 14.08).
Mrs Badenoch said: “You ask what is the relevance of Rachel Reeves’ gender. Well, when she stood up in her Budget she wanted everyone to know that she was the first female chancellor.
“I didn’t stand up here congratulating myself for being a female leader or being a black leader and that is why when you open the door to those things it means that people can comment on them.”
02:15 PM GMT
Local grooming gang inquiries not enough, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch repeated her call for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
Labour announced this afternoon that it will launch nationally-backed local inquiries in an attempt to stem the ongoing backlash.
Asked if that was enough, Mrs Badenoch said: “I welcome any work that Louise Casey is able to do in this area of the rape gang. But I don’t think that local inquries are enough.”
She said a national inquiry is still needed and insisted it “doesn’t need to take forever”.
02:11 PM GMT
Badenoch rubbishes idea of Reform-Tory merger
Kemi Badenoch rubbished the idea of the Tories merging with Reform UK.
The Tory leader was asked why she had allowed Nigel Farage to emerge as the voice of the Right and if the two parties could merge before the next general election.
She said: “Nigel Farage says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party. Why on earth would we merge with that?”
02:08 PM GMT
Badenoch would back Starmer if he sacks Reeves
Kemi Badenoch is now taking questions from the media.
The Tory leader was asked if she would back Sir Keir Starmer if he was to sack Rachel Reeves.
Mrs Badenoch said: “Yes I will back Keir Starmer using Brexit opportunities. If he does the right thing with Rachel Reeves I will also support him in that.
“But his woman problem is not my concern. I have to focus on the Conservative Party and making sure that we rebuild the trust of the British people.”
02:05 PM GMT
Badenoch: We are going to give you your country back
Concluding her speech, Kemi Badenoch said: “Together we can make politics work again for the first time in a generation.
“The Conservative Party is changing. We are under new leadership.
“We are back in the service of the British people and we are going to give you your country back.”
02:03 PM GMT
UK’s best days are ahead of us, declares Badenoch
Turning to her upbringing and education, Kemi Badenoch said she knows what it is like to “feel alone” and what it is like having to choose between “paying for food and paying for a bus fare”.
She said that for too many people in the UK politics is just not working as she promised change.
“We are going to do things differently,” she said.
Mrs Badenoch said that she wanted children to have a “better life than their parents” and she believed the nation’s “best days are ahead of us”.
02:00 PM GMT
Farage mocks Badenoch
A total of 21 people are currently watching Kemi Badenoch’s speech on Facebook and her YouTube stream crashed.
It’s a good job she understands the digital age.
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) January 16, 2025
01:56 PM GMT
Labour ‘fast losing legitimacy’, claims Tory leader
Kemi Badenoch said her first priority is to “restore trust” with voters and the first step in doing that will be for the Tories to be an “effective opposition”.
She claimed that Labour was “fast losing their legitimacy in the country” because the party’s pre-election pledges were not matching its post-election actions.
Turning to Sir Keir Starmer, Mrs Badenoch said: “He is a lawyer, not a leader.”
01:54 PM GMT
Labour treating business ‘like a cash machine’, says Badenoch
Labour treats businesses “like a cash machine” to fund its spending plans, Kemi Badenoch claimed as she criticised the Government’s Budget tax rises.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” she said.
The Tory leader said the country is “tired of politicians promising the earth” but not knowing how to deliver.
01:52 PM GMT
UK is not a hotel, says Badenoch as she repeats call for lower immigration
Kemi Badenoch said the UK is “not a hotel” as she called for a reduction in immigration numbers.
The Tory leader said: “No ifs, no buts, we simply cannot take all the millions of people who want to come here from elsewhere.
“Our country is our home, it is not a hotel. If people arriving don’t want to integrate into British culture, they shouldn’t be here.
“And it is not controversial to say that.”
01:50 PM GMT
Badenoch criticises Tories’ handling of Brexit
Kemi Badenoch criticised the Tories’ handling of Brexit.
She said that the “public will never trust politicians unless we can admit our mistakes” and she “will acknowledge the Conservative Party made mistakes”.
She said: “We were making announcements without proper plans. We announced that we would leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU.”
01:47 PM GMT
Badenoch: Starmer is what is wrong with politics
Kemi Badenoch said the Conservative Party “is under new leadership” and from now on the Tories will be telling the truth to voters “even when it is difficult to hear”.
The Tory leader said it is “hard not to feel sorry” for Labour because the party had walked into some of the same “traps” as the Tories had.
“But I don’t feel sorry for them,” she said as she referred to Sir Keir Starmer’s criticism of politicians who had called for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal.
“He is what is wrong with politics,” she said.
01:44 PM GMT
UK has lost its way, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch is now on her feet.
The Tory leader said that “we are all getting poorer” and politicians across the board have not been telling the truth, offering quick fixes that often make problems worse.
She said the UK is a “great country” but “we have lost our way”.
01:42 PM GMT
Sir Simon Clarke introduces Kemi Badenoch
Sir Simon Clarke, the former Tory Cabinet minister and new chief of the Onward think tank, is introducing Kemi Badenoch.
He said that the UK is facing “profound challenges” and the think tank will work to offer “authentically conservative solutions” to them.
Sir Simon said there was “nobody better placed” than Mrs Badenoch to renew conservatism and lead the Tories back to power.
01:33 PM GMT
Shadow cabinet ministers in audience for Kemi Badenoch speech
Numerous members of the shadow cabinet have now arrived at the Onward think tank in central London to listen to Kemi Badenoch’s big speech.
Alex Burghart, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and Andrew Griffith, the shadow business and trade secretary, are both in attendance.
Mrs Badenoch should be on stage imminently.
01:15 PM GMT
Labour ‘struggling’ in power due to lack of plan, Tory leader to claim
Labour is experiencing “even worse problems” than the Tories did in power because it has been announcing “policy without a plan”, Kemi Badenoch will claim.
The Tory leader will say that “policies without a plan are not policies, they’re just announcements” as she criticises Sir Keir Starmer’s approach.
She is expected to say: “That’s why Labour are struggling. It’s the old cliche that “failing to plan, is planning to fail.
“Because when you haven’t worked out what you’re going to do in opposition, you will accept whatever you’re given in government.
“That’s why Rachel Reeves announced mad and bad ideas on snatching winter fuel and taxing family farms.”
01:04 PM GMT
Badenoch to criticise Tories’ handling of Brexit, Net Zero and immigration
Kemi Badenoch will use her speech this afternoon to “acknowledge the Conservative Party made mistakes” as she attempts to break with some of the actions of her predecessors.
She is expected to criticise the Tories’ handling of Brexit, Net Zero and immigration.
“We announced that we would leave the European Union before we had a plan for growth outside the EU,” she is expected to say.
“We made it the law that we would deliver Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. And only then did we start thinking about how we would do that.
“We announced that we would lower immigration, but immigration kept going up. These mistakes were made because we told people what they wanted to hear first and then tried to work it out later.
“That is going to stop under my leadership. If we are going to turn our country around, we’re going to have to say some things that aren’t easy to hear.”
01:02 PM GMT
Badenoch to deliver first big speech of 2025 at 1.30pm
Kemi Badenoch will deliver her first major speech of 2025 this afternoon as she attempts to kickstart the Tories’ path back to power.
The Tory leader will admit that the Conservative Party made “mistakes” on numerous issues during its 14 years in government.
She will promise a more open approach in an attempt to rebuild trust with voters after the party’s general election drubbing in July last year.
She is expected to say: “For the next four years and beyond we are going to be telling the British people the truth, even when it’s difficult to hear.”
You will be able to watch the speech live at the top of this page. Mrs Badenoch is due to start at 1.30pm.
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