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Nigel Farage has accused Labour of “betraying” pensioners on the triple lock to “plug their own self-inflicted financial black holes”. Reform UK’s leader vowed to fight “tooth and nail” to ensure the triple lock on pensions remains after branding the ruling party’s values “rotten to the core”.

Writing in this newspaper, Mr Farage said: “For years, the Daily Express and its magnificent readers have campaigned valiantly to protect the triple lock. Why? Because it is a fundamental social contract. It was a promise made to the generations who spent the best part of half a century working hard, paying into the system and building the very foundation of modern Britain.

“It was a cast-iron agreement with the government of the day which said: We will not let you fall behind. And yet, at the very first sign of trouble, Andy Burnham and his Labour colleagues have tossed that promise into the gutter in order to plug their own self-inflicted financial black holes. So let me be clear, here and now, when I say that Reform UK will keep the triple lock. How? Simply by prioritising British values.”

Mr Farage said he would slash funding on housing for asylum seekers, reduce foreign aid spending, axe money spent on net zero and reduce welfare payments to ensure the support for pensioners remained.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced plans to end the existing state pension guarantee which he hopes will raise £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s to help pay for a new national care service.

Mr Farage said: “So to the millions of pensioners across Britain reading the Daily Express today who feel betrayed, ignored, and discarded by the political elite let me tell you this here and now: You are not alone.

“Reform UK hears you, we stand with you and we will fight for you.

“And to Mr Burnham I say this. Let’s get this issue settled now. Not in 2030. Now. That means we need a general election. It is time to call out this betrayal for what it is and demand a government that puts Britain, and its people, first.”

Under the Prime Minister’s plans from 2030, the state pension will rise every year by at least Consumer Prices Index inflation or 2.5%, breaking the triple lock’s automatic link with increases in average earnings.

But officials insisted it will also rise by more than this if needed in some years, to ensure it holds its value relative to earnings.

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick accused Mr Burnham of “not being straight with the British public” because the government plans to legislate this Parliament to scrap the triple lock in April 2030.

Mr Jenrick said: “Andy Burnham is not being straight with the British public. He told us he wouldn’t be touching the triple lock until 2030. Now we find out he’s legislating for his plan to rob pensioners during this Parliament.

“They could now see their pensions cut as early as next year, all whilst Britain’s benefits bill continues to spiral out of control. The Prime Minister needs to stop trying to pull the wool over pensioners’ eyes. He must come clean and tell them when exactly he plans to cut their pensions.”

Meanwhile Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch this week said the triple lock is “current” Tory policy and in the “draft manifesto”.

When asked whether she could guarantee the current triple lock would remain in place if the Tories returned to power, Mrs Badenoch said: “So the triple lock is our policy. We brought it in when we were in office in 2010. He’s saying that he wants to scrap it. My view is that he needs to cut welfare.

“The amount of money he’s saving when it eventually comes in is £15 billion a year.

“The amount of extra money we would have had to pay on welfare while Labour was in office, is £50 billion.

“[Burnham] doesn’t want to deal with that, so he’s not dealing with today’s problems. He’s again promising jam tomorrow. I don’t think that’s right.”

The Prime Minister his week rejected the suggestion that he was picking on pensioners with the pensions triple lock change as “completely wrong”.

When asked why he was targeting pensioners, the Prime Minister told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think you’ve got it completely wrong really, if you don’t mind me saying, to put it like that, because I have put out a vision for a national care service.

“There are pensioners out there who watch your programme who are paying for care costs from their basic state pension. Now, is that right or fair?

“We have to fix this system. But what I’m saying about the triple lock enables better support, better care for people in their homes. No care charges.

“So, please let me just make that point that people need to see these things in the round. It’s a better deal for older people going forward.”