Kemi Badenoch triple lock comments trigger pensions row

However, her comments were seized on by opposition parties to suggest the Tories were planning to shift their stance on the triple lock, which Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all pledged to continue in last year’s general election.

Labour said the Tory leader had “let the mask slip” and was preparing to cut the state pension, while the Liberal Democrats said “bungling Badenoch” was preparing to make pension cuts “her first new policy”.

A Tory spokesman denied this, adding the party had “always protected the triple lock” and accusing Labour of “skewing her words for political gain”.

However, the party has yet to clarify which benefits it would consider subjecting to means-testing, when the level of support is linked in some way to a claimant’s income or wealth.

Current benefits paid in this way include housing benefit, Universal Credit and pension credit, a top-up paid to poorer pensioners.

Speaking later on Sky News, Tory co-chair Nigel Huddleston did not clarify the party’s position either, but said it wanted to look at a “whole bunch of policy areas”.

It is not the first time Badenoch has been embroiled in a row over comments made during media appearances.

As a Tory leadership candidate last September, she appeared to suggest maternity pay was “excessive” before later arguing she was making a more general point about the burden of regulations on business.