乔·梅斯（Joe Mayes）和克洛伊·查普兰（Chloe Chaplain）报道：英国首相安迪·伯纳姆（Andy Burnham）表示，他将取消英国的养老金“三重保障机制”（即养老金增长与通货膨胀率、工资增长率中的较高者同步增长的机制），以筹集资金用于建立新的国家社会护理服务体系。他表示，为解决这一关键问题，自己愿意承担政治上的代价。
By Joe Mayes and Chloe Chaplain Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he would drop the UK’s pensions triple lock to help fund a new national social care service, saying he was willing to pay a political price to fix a crucial issue.
伯纳姆表示，从2030年起，英国的养老金将按照通货膨胀率或2.5%的较高幅度进行增长；这与现行政策不同——现行政策下，养老金还会根据工资增长率进行增长（如果工资增长率高于通货膨胀率的话）。
Burnham said the state pension would rise by the higher of inflation or 2.5% from 2030, a change from the current policy where it also increases by wage growth if that is higher.
伯纳姆在周二于利物浦举行的工党大会上发表主旨演讲时说：“这一改革将带来可观的节省资金，我们将把这些资金用于改善国家的社会护理服务体系。”他还表示，养老金的价值将“随着时间的推移保持相对稳定”（即不会因通货膨胀而大幅贬值），但并未提供更多具体细节。
“This change will generate significant savings which we will use to build up our national care service,” Burnham said in his keynote speech at Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Tuesday. Burnham said the state pension would “hold its value relative to earnings over time,” without giving further details.
伯纳姆试图摆脱上任前两个月所推行的那些看似“廉价”但实际效果不佳的政策，转而提出应对英国面临的最严峻挑战的长期解决方案。他的办公室将他的首次首相演讲描述为一次“敢于直面政治难题”的演讲，承诺终结近年来英国政治中普遍存在的回避问题的现象。
Burnham is seeking to move away from the cheaper feel-good policies that have characterized his first two months in office by fleshing out his longer-term vision for tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the UK. His office billed his first conference speech as prime minister as one in which he wouldn’t shy away from “the things politicians usually avoid,” pledging to end the “drift” that’s characterized British politics in recent years.
几十年来，历届政府都试图改革英国杂乱无章的社会护理体系，但包括伯纳姆本人在2009年担任卫生大臣时提出的改革方案在内的所有提案都因高昂的成本而未能获得成功。伯纳姆周日表示，他希望建立一个“使用过程中完全免费”的社会护理体系（类似于英国的国民医疗服务体系）。
Governments of different stripes have tried and failed to overhaul the UK’s patchwork social care system for decades, but successive proposals — including by Burnham himself as health secretary in 2009 — have failed to gain traction because of the cost involved. Burnham on Sunday said he wanted a system that’s free at the point of use, like Britain’s National Health Service.
据健康基金会（Health Foundation）估计，实施这一改革将需要185亿英镑（约合245亿美元）的资金；不过伯纳姆在周日对BBC表示：“成本并没有那么高。”尽管如此，财政大臣约翰·希利（John Healey）仍需设法筹集数十亿英镑来支付这一新政策的实施费用。取消养老金的“三重保障机制”无疑将为他提供一定的资金支持。
The Health Foundation estimates that would come at an £18.5 billion ($24.5 billion) price tag, though Burnham on Sunday told the BBC “it’s not that high.”Nevertheless, it would leave Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey seeking to find billions of pounds to pay for the new policy. Easing the pensions triple lock will help him.
自 2011 年起，这一“三重保障机制”（即养老金增长必须同时满足通货膨胀率、工资增长率中的最高值或 2.5% 的三个条件）就开始实施。这一机制有效减少了养老金领取者的贫困问题，但许多经济学家警告称，鉴于政府财政面临的其它压力，这一政策越来越难以持续下去。
The triple lock has been in place since 2011, guaranteeing that the state pension rises annually by the highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5%. That’s helped reduce pensioner poverty, but many economists warn the policy is increasingly unaffordable given other pressures on the public purse.
根据财政研究所（Institute for Fiscal Studies）的估计，自 2011 年以来，由于实施了这一“三重保障机制”，英国每年的养老金支出增加了 160 亿英镑；如果继续沿用这一机制，到 2050 年，养老金支出可能会进一步增加至 400 亿英镑。
The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates the triple lock has added an extra £16 billion to the annual state pensions bill since 2011, compared to aligning increases with wage growth. Keeping it in place could add as much as £40 billion to the price tag by 2050, it says.