Boris Johnson is at odds with his chancellor Rishi Sunak over Treasury plans to suspend the triple lock on pensions for a year, with frustration over the prime minister’s desire to make expensive policy pledges, according to reports.
The Sunday Times claimed that officials were said to be examining plans to prevent a rise in average wages over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic leading to a 6 per cent increase in the state pension costing the government £4bn.
It added that there was growing consternation over Mr Johnson’s habit of announcing plans that would cost billions of pounds when there is no means to pay for them. It came as Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he believed his party could win a large number of Tory constituencies in the south of England, where the Conservatives had taken voters for granted.
Meanwhile, former speaker and Tory MP John Bercow revealed he had defected to Labour due to his former party becoming reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic under Mr Johnson’s leadership.