From April, pensioners who qualify for the maximum new state pension will receive an extra £221.20 a week, lifting it to £11,502 a year.

Those who retired before April 6, 2016, on the old basic state pension will get a maximum pay rise of £169.50 a week, giving them up to £8,814 a year.

The state pension hardly brings riches and with a third of retirees having no other source of income, any downgrade would be a disaster.

Millions of pensioners will be watching the election closely, to see what Sunak and Starmer say.

At some point, they have to say something. They can't muddle through the election on wafty promises, can they?

Personally, I think both would like to see the back of the triple lock, because it would free up money for spending or tax cuts.

The total bill for the state pension in 2023/24 will be around £124billion, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. April's increase will cost the Treasury another £9billion on that of that.

It's the largest single item of welfare spending at 42 percent of the total.

No wonder the Treasury hates it. Even the Labour Party is wary of the cost. In September, deputy leader and left-wing firebrand Angela Rayner refused to commit to its future.

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