𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Speculation is rife about Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain burying the hatchet to work together – but a major dividing line has opened up between the two. Restore founder Mr Lowe sent shockwaves through British politics this week when he said the two parties could co-operate to “destroy the looming Left-wing alliance”. But he told the Express on Tuesday afternoon that “Nigel has made no contact” since sending a message on Sunday morning saying he “will call later”.

Meanwhile, Mr Lowe has come under fire for pledging to “end the triple lock”, with campaigners warning his party risks losing a “shedful” of votes and could be “fatally wounded”. Reform launched a full-throttle defence of the policy, which ensures the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest – average earnings, CPI inflation, or 2.5%.

Mr Lowe defended his plans to only link the state pension to CPI inflation, saying: “Restore Britain is the only party with a serious plan to replace the triple lock. Will it win us votes? Probably not. Is it necessary in order to leave a functioning economy to our grandchildren? Absolutely, yes.”

But Robert Jenrick, Mr Farage’s pick to serve as chancellor in a Reform government, said: “[We] back the triple lock because we believe it’s right to look after people who have worked hard and paid in their entire lives. We will be able to pay for it by cutting the billions of pounds of waste on illegal migrants, welfare for those not working, and net zero subsidies. That’s the right and fair thing to do.”

Dennis Reed, founder of the Silver Voices campaign group, warned: “Rupert Lowe is right that scrapping the triple lock will not win Restore Britain any votes, but he will lose a shedful too. Lowe has fallen into the establishment trap of scapegoating pensioners for our economic malaise when the reality is that our state pension is one of the lowest in the developed world, and the basic rate is not enough to live on as it is.”

He added: “All serious political parties will recognise that the silver vote will not tolerate this vital safeguard being scrapped and any party that persists with such a policy at the next general election will be fatally wounded.”

Mr Farage this week said he was “open-minded” about talks with Restore. Great Yarmouth MP and former Southampton FC chairman Mr Lowe left Reform amid acrimony in March 2025. But on Sunday, he said he believed there “could be sufficient common ground for our two movements to co-operate collectively [to] destroy the looming Left-wing alliance that will finish off what hope remains for this country”.

The latest YouGov polling puts Reform in first place (23%), ahead of Labour (22%), the Conservatives (19%), the Greens (13%), the Liberal Democrats (12%), and Restore (4%).

Restore’s plans for the triple lock are laid out in a new policy paper: The Wealth of Our Nation.

It states: “Given our belief in the pressing need for inter-generational fairness, we will secure the state pension but end the triple lock, linking it instead to CPI.”

The party would also bring “overly generous public sector schemes in line with those available in the private sector”.

Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said that “politicians and think tanks seem to be queueing up to call for the triple lock to be scrapped”.

But she warned the anti-poverty safeguard “continues to play a vital role in buoying up pensioner incomes, especially if you haven’t got much money coming in and are struggling to afford bills and constantly cutting back on the basics”.

Morgan Vine of Independent Age stated that “1.7 million older people across the UK live in poverty, with another million hovering precariously just above that line”.

He said: “The triple lock provides a small but vital increase to their low incomes, and it needs to remain in place until a better alternative is put forward which will protect current and future pensioners from poverty.”