There needs to be a greater understanding of the triple lock. The reason many of us supported its introduction was that it began to redress the loss of pension caused by Thatcher breaking the link between pensions and earnings. Despite the triple lock being in force for a decade the response I received to a Parliamentary question some months ago confirmed pensioners are still £50 a week worse off. We spend 5.7% of GDP on the pension compared with 10% in Germany, France and Spain, with 15% in Italy. The Triple Lock enables us to bring our pensions into line with European levels especially needed at a time when final salary pension schemes are increasingly being phased out. The false argument about inter generational fairness fails to recognise that the fight for pensions now protects the living standards of young people in the future and that immediate support for younger people should be secured by the fair taxation of wealth. Let’s not let opportunistic politicians and commentators divide young from old in this way.