Mr. Paul Johnson:

The triple lock is not legislative; that is policy. What is legislated is the earnings indexation. The Government decides to deem the higher of the earnings indexation prices at 2.5%. That is not legislated for. If it wanted to do less than earnings indexation, then that does require legislation. For most, if not all, other changes certainly within the tax system, while there is the default in legislation, where things go up in line with prices, all the Chancellor needs to do is stand up and say that it is going to do something different, and that goes through the Finance Bill, and something different happens. As I have said, that happens on a very regular basis. If the Chancellor did not say anything, then there is a series of defaults, which are set out in legislation. Assuming he can get his budget through Parliament, however, he then has executive control over pretty much all of this on an annual basis. I am pretty sure that things like the student loan thresholds and so on can be changed by statutory instrument, or similar measures. The truth is that most of this is effectively within the hands of the Executive on an annual basis, even where legislation exists to provide defaults.