Pensions could rise in line with earnings instead of inflation next year, with Liz Truss reported to be reneging on her commitment to the triple lock.
The Prime Minister will appear at PMQs for the first time since her tax U-turns later today, in what is expected to be a bruising encounter with opposition MPs.
Jeremy Hunt will decide whether the triple lock, which states that state pensions will rise by the highest of inflation - which jumped to 10.1% this morning - average earnings or 2.5%, will be kept later this month.
Millions of pensioners will be out of pocket from next April if state pensions rise just by wages, with the Daily Telegraph estimating that many will be around £430 a year worse off.
Meanwhile, Michael Gove on Tuesday said it was a matter of when not if Liz Truss will be toppled and joked she had lived up to her “human hand grenade” nickname.
In a series of scathing remarks about the Prime Minister, Mr Gove, who was brought up in Aberdeen, said the role of Ms Truss’s boss was “now a job share between Jeremy Hunt and the bond market”.
He also predicted that there would be no fracking in the UK despite the Prime Minister lifting the ban on such practices because communities would not approve it.
Speaking at an event organised by JLA Speakers Bureau on Tuesday morning, Mr Gove gave a series of frank and forthright assessments of the Prime Minister.
The remarks were reported by the Guardian. Mr Gove later said that they had been given under so-called Chatham House rules, which means not to be quoted, but did not dispute their accuracy.