Joined Up Thinking Part 2

Ed Balls, the shadow Chancellor, has warned that an incoming Labour government would set a limit on its welfare budget that would include pensions, because pensioners also have to share the pain as the UK struggles to get its economy back on track.

Mr Balls also appeared to have contradicted the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, whose staff had briefed journalists only days ago to say that Labour would protect the so-called ‘triple lock’, which guarantees that state pensions go up every year.

But Labour spin ministers emphasised that Mr Balls was not planning to scrap the ‘triple lock’, which guarantees that pensions rise annually in line with inflation, earnings, or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is the greatest. They said that the basic pension would continue to rise annually under Labour, while they looked at long term possibilities for cutting the cost, such as raising the retirement age.

"We will look at the details of the government's cap when it is announced in the spending review as we develop the details of our own."

Update: A few hours on from Ed B's morning appearances, and the various spokespersons for the various players now seem to have between themselves reached some sort of agreement as to what it was Ed actually said, and are now busy passing it on so that those of us who plainly weren't listening with the requisite attention can now correct our faulty memories of the event, something that Nick Watt at the G is only too happy to help out with so Ed Balls clarifies Labour's plan for curbing welfare spending via three-year cap in event of a general election victory in 2015  is the sub-heading to Nick's piece and the first paragraph runs:-

"Labour will target housing benefit and will examine the case for further rises in the retirement age as the main ways of curbing welfare spending through a three-year cap if it wins a general election victory in 2015.

Party sources moved to clarify the "tough" decisions on spending Labour is drawing up after Ed Balls appeared to signal a major change of tack by saying pensions would be included in the cap".

See, he never said pensions would be covered by the cap, he just clearly explained that Labour was considering "upping" the retirement age as a means of keeping spending on pensions within "a cap".  I hope we have all got that now, the job of being in opposition is tough enough without us all constantly "mishearing" what Ed says.