I would have liked to have seen a bit more of a squeeze on pensions
I don’t know the system used in the U.K. but in the U.S. Social Security COLA percentages are locked into by whatever the official inflation figure is. Granted, the official number tends to understate the true inflation rate. So, here at least, no way to give Soc Sec beneficiaries a smaller raise without getting new legislation passed into law, something hard to do since older folks tend to vote at higher participation rates than young ones do. Republicans have talked about cutting back on Social Security, but without controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, it’s just talk.
It's kind of the same here - the treble lock is inflation, wages and something else, whichever is higher the pension goes up with it! And same with the voters - older = vote conservative!