Thanks for joining me. Labour is poised to raise the state pension by more than £400 a year after Rachel Reeves was heavily criticised for means testing the winter fuel allowance.
The Treasury’s internal working calculations reportedly show that the full state pension could increase as a result of April’s triple lock. Changes would take the full state pension to around £12,000 in 2025/26, after the £900 increase in 2023.
It comes after the Chancellor was accused of using pensions as a cash cow when she announced plans to limit the fuel allowance to those receiving pension credits.
Pre-2016 retirees who may be eligible for the secondary state pension under the old system are also expected to see a £300 per year increase to £9,000 in 2025/26, according to internal working calculations seen by the BBC.
The final decision on pension increases will be made by Liz Kendall, Pensions Minister, ahead of October’s budget.
Rachel Reeves on Monday reaffirmed the government’s backing of the triple lock until the end of this Parliament.
A Treasury spokesman said: “We’re committed to protecting the Triple Lock which will boost over 12 million pensioners’ incomes by hundreds of pounds next year.
5 things to start your day
1) Volkswagen electric car brand would be ‘wiped out’ by EU tariffs | Taxes to protect European motor industry have ‘opposite effect’, warns Cupra boss
2) Reeves loses pick for investment minister before he even starts | Benjamin Wegg-Prosser leaves Government scrambling to find replacement before key summit
3) Ed Miliband adds £150 to household bills with wind turbine building spree | Profits from record-breaking green expansion will go to foreign energy firms
4) The war on pensioners is becoming more vindictive by the day | Labour’s assault on society’s most vulnerable is as illogical as it is unpleasant
5) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Let’s be honest: shale fracking has saved the West | Without America’s wildcat drillers, Europe would be facing an industrial death spiral
What happened overnight
On Wall Street, all three major indexes suffered their biggest daily declines since Aug 5.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5pc, to 40,936.93; the S&P 500 lost 2.1pc, to 5,528.93; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 3.3pc, to 17,136.30.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.63pc, also showing its biggest one-day drop since Aug 5.
In the bond market, the yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell to 3.85pc, from 3.91pc late on Friday.
Stocks in Asia slumped the most since the Aug. 5 rout, tracking a selloff in US peers driven by a plunge in Nvidia.
Shares of Asian chipmakers tumbled amid renewed concerns over the artificial intelligence frenzy, bringing a regional equity benchmark down more than 2pc. Chip giants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and SK Hynix Inc. fell at least 4pc each. US futures also slid in Asian trading after the S&P 500 shed more than 2pc.
The broad risk-off mood came as a closely watched US manufacturing gauge again missed forecasts, shifting investor focus toward the odds of an economic slowdown in the world’s largest economy. That added to an already-weak sentiment in Asia, where a run of disappointing Chinese data had been hurting risk assets.
Treasury yields steadied after a tumble Tuesday. A dollar gauge snapped a five-day winning streak, its longest since April. The yen edged higher. Oil pushed lower after a decline of almost 5pc on Tuesday amid weak demand and oversupply concerns.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Australian dollar held on to losses as data showed Australia’s economic weakness persisted in the three months through June.
Chinese stocks fell after a private survey showed services activity expanded less than expected, the latest sign of the economy’s fragility.
