The Budget was meant to have been all about protecting for future generations the National Insurance Fund - out of which the state pension is paid.

Without intervention, the NI Fund is due to run out completely by the year 2047.

But following a House of Keys vote on the pension reforms, this key element of the Budget was removed and the Treasury Minister announced that the triple lock will stay - for now.

It’s a move that will take an extra £1.4m out of the Fund.

Meanwhile, funding for the NHS from the NI Fund has been increased from £54.7m to £71m, £10m of that from the policy change to increase the allocation 19.3% to 24.8%, and the remaining £6.3m from a statistical revision.

The debate on the future uprating of the Manx state pension will now take place in April, after MHKs voted unanimously to split it away from the vote on the Budget.

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There is no guarantee that Tynwald will actually vote for the reforms which will see the scrapping of the triple lock for all those who have reached state retirement age after 2019.

Treasury Minister Dr Allinson insisted: ‘In the short term this [the retention of the triple lock] will make very little difference. That change is for about £1.4m extra revenue coming out of the NI Fund but we’ve seen more money coming into the NI Fund.

‘We’ve known since 2007 that the NI Fund could be in jeopardy and will run out by 2047. I brought forward proposals in this Budget that weren’t accepted by MHKs. They want to pause those changes; they wanted more time to look at other methods to sustain the Fund.

‘That debate could theoretically have derailed the entire Budget, just on that one key issue. But the key part of the Budget in terms of income coming in and expenditure going out are largely unchanged.’

He said he hoped to bring back policies, following the debate in April, that will have consensus-backing either next year or the year after.

The UK’s triple lock policy increases pension each year by whichever is the highest figure: 2.5%, CPI inflation or average earnings growth.

Dr Allinson wants to bring in a double lock guarantee that will see Manx state pension instead rise annually by either CPI inflation or 2%, whichever is higher.

Most pensioners will be unaffected as they retired before the introduction of the Manx state pension in 2019.

Under the original plan the double lock would have come in from April 7 this year, and the Manx state pension would have risen by 2.2% in line with CPI inflation as at September last year.

But following Dr Allinson’s U-turn last week it will increase by 4.1% this year in line with the UK triple lock after all, rising from £241.50 to £251.30 a week from April 7.

If it had gone up under the proposed double lock by 2.2% it would have risen to £246.75 a week.