British finance minister Rishi Sunak is considering blocking a near 6% rise in old-age pension payments as part of a wider effort to rein in the cost of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spending, the Sunday Times newspaper said.
Under a pension promise in the Conservative Party's 2019 election campaign, state pensions are meant to rise each year by the highest of the annual inflation rate, wage growth or 2.5%.
The Sunday Times said the finance ministry wanted to break the link between pensions and wages for a year. The Sunday Times said Sunak was worried too about a potential 5 billion pound annual cost for a plan on social care for the elderly due to be discussed later this week, plus extra for a new government yacht to promote British exports.
Asked about the report, a British government spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister and Chancellor work closely together, and have been in lockstep throughout the most challenging period any government has faced since the Second World War."Sunak said in a television interview on Wednesday that pensions would be reviewed later in the year.Britain's government borrowed 300 billion pounds last year - equivalent to 14% of gross domestic product and the most since World War Two.
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