Pensions Minister Laura Trott refused to guarantee the government will honour the triple lock (Image: Getty)

       Our petition with Silver Voices calling for the full rise to be paid out has now been backed by 184,000 people and polling also shows more than half the public agree.

       But Ms Trott dodged seven questions on whether the higher figure, which is linked to average earnings including bonuses, will be awarded when the government signs off pensions regulations in the next few weeks.

       She insisted the government is looking at “bonuses in the same way they do every single year”.

       “The process is the same every single year,” Ms Trott told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

       Polling by YouGov for the Times found 67 percent of the public want the pension to increase by at least 8.5 percent.

       Liz Truss said pensioners should not be “penalised” now but claimed that the system is not sustainable in the long term.

       READ MORE: 'Biggest State Pension increase in history'

       Liz Truss said pensioners should not be “penalised” (Image: Getty)

       She said: “What I don’t want to do is see current pensioners penalised. We can’t leave them in the lurch.

       “But over the longer term, we definitely need to raise the retirement age and we also need to look at how to deliver pensions better because I don’t think the current system works as well as it should.

       “And clearly, the sustainability is a huge problem.

       Neither Labour or the Conservatives have committed to including the lock in their next manifesto.

       Silver Voices warned there will be consequences at the ballot box for parties that try to drop it.

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       Director Dennis Reed said: "The Great British Public has spoken, with an overwhelming response to the joint Express/ Silver Voices petition.

       “Politicians of all parties have been given a clear message "Hands Off the Triple Lock" or you will lose our votes.

       “Because so much bad faith is being created by the reluctance of the Government to confirm that the triple lock increase will be applied in full, it would be in the interests of the Tories to change tack now before a stream of lost votes becomes a torrent.

       “The junior minister Laura Trott was given a torrid time on ITV this morning as she tried to justify the possibility of a lower rise than the triple lock should provide, by fiddling with the average earnings figures."

       Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/stick-with-the-triple-lock

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