Midsomer Norton MP Anna Sabine has condemned plans announced by Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch to consider means-testing the triple lock on pensions.

The triple lock is a policy that currently guarantees annual increases in line with inflation and average wage growth, and ditching this has been described as “callous and frightening” by Mrs Sabine.

The Lib Dem MP for Frome and East Somerset and her Bath counterpart, Wera Hobhouse, have objected to Badenoch’s intention to potentially halt the automatic increase on the state pension.

“The comments made by Kemi Badenoch this week show a callous disregard for pensioners across the country who are already facing a huge hike in winter fuel costs and rising inflation,” Mrs Sabine said..

“The triple lock was brought in by the Lib Dems to help protect the pension that so many in Somerset rely on and this announcement is a frightening indication of her intentions and I urge Conservative MPs to distance themselves from this sort of rhetoric.”

Badenoch’s remarks follow on from comments made by Shadow Chancellor, Mel Stride, in December in which he said that maintaining the triple lock was “unsustainable”, showing a pattern among the Opposition party that looks to ignore pensioners and their needs.

Mrs Hobhouse (Lib Dem, Bath) said: “Pensioners in our community have already put up with years of economic vandalism under the Conservatives, before being hit by Labour’s recent decision to cut the Winter Fuel Payment. The last thing they need now is uncertainty over the triple lock.”

The Liberal Democrats introduced the triple lock to allow for it to automatically increase in line with the economy and will fight to ensure “it and pensioners are protected from successive governments that seem prepared to neglect retirees across the country.”