During Treasury Questions today the Lib Dem chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander stated that Labour’s plan to include pensions in the welfare cap would have meant freezing them this year.
A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "In difficult times, Liberal Democrats have stood up for pensioners and guaranteed them decent rises in the Basic State Pension every year with the pensions triple lock – a policy that we designed in opposition and have delivered in Government. In office Labour insulted pensioners with the measly 75p rise, now they need to come clean about whether they would freeze their pensions."
However Labour a source tells me "they support the triple-lock for pensions" that the coalition have put in place, although they wont say whether pensions are included in their benefit cap. Although Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls did say it was included when he spoke to the BBC's Sunday politics a couple of weeks ago, although a couple of hours after the interview Labour were rowing back from that statement.
Labour have still not officially ruled out pensions being including in their benefit cap and as one Conservative source told me, "we know they'd cap pensions but how can anyone believe they'd have a cap on benefits is a mystery, only this week Liam Byrne demanded higher benefits, including increasing the JSA rate. Typical Labour, hit those who've paid in to pay for those who haven't".
