Minister Rejects Blair’s Triple Lock Warning as Ex-PM Calls for ‘Coherent Plan’
Blair said Labour lacks a coherent plan and warned welfare spending could outpace defence unless the party changes course on pensions and energy.
- On Wednesday, former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair published a 5,700-word essay warning Labour is 'playing with fire' over the UK's future and lacks a 'coherent plan,' urging the party to return to its 'radical centre' to secure a second term.
- Blair's intervention targets Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's net zero agenda and welfare spending, which he argued risks exceeding defence costs by decade's end, amid Labour leadership uncertainty and at a moment when the party appears poised to change direction.
- Citing projections on BBC Radio, Blair said disability and incapacity benefits could reach almost 5 million by decade's end, up from 2.8 million five or six years ago, and called the triple lock on pensions 'no longer affordable' given Britain accounts for under 1% of global emissions.
- Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson rejected Blair's welfare critique, saying 'things have moved on' since he left office and pension increases are sustainable, while Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham pledged a 'considered response' on Thursday.
- The debate extends beyond welfare to national security, with Tomlinson framing net zero as central to UK resilience, while SNP MSP David Linden seized on Blair's remarks to argue Westminster has been 'disastrous for Scotland,' citing 1,000 energy jobs lost monthly.
16 Articles
16 Articles
New conservative, old Labour?
There is something quite peculiar about the political moment we are living through. The most coherent, detailed and intellectually serious centre-right policy document published in Britain this week was written by Tony Blair. In a scathing 5,700-word essay, the former Labour prime minister took aim at the current government with a directness rarely seen from a living ex-premier about their own side. Labour has an “almost infinite capacity for se…
Is the Labour party FINISHED? Blair’s “cold shower” for Starmer
Sir Tony Blair has entered Labour’s civil war – and his message is brutal: changing the leader means nothing if the party still has no real plan for Britain. In a sweeping essay, the former Prime Minister delivers a scathing critique of Keir Starmer’s government and questions whether Labour has coherent answers on growth, tax, welfare, Brexit, net zero and Britain’s place in the world. Blair argues the solution is a return to the “radical centre…
Labour MPs secretly agree with Blair that state pension triple lock should be axed
Labour MPs agree with former prime minister Sir Tony Blair that the state pension triple lock is “unsustainable” and should be axed. However, Sir Keir Starmer’s MPs also believe that ditching the annual state pension increase guarantee is too politically toxic for the Labour Government to attempt. The triple lock policy states that the state pension will rise every year by the same level as inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent – wh…
Evening Standard
Minister rejects Blair’s triple lock warning as ex-PM calls for ‘coherent plan’
Dan Tomlinson said ‘things have moved on’ since the ex-Labour leader was in No 10.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 46% of the sources lean Left, 46% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
