Tory Cabinet minister Mel Stride has claimed it's not in the Brits' "national psyche" to start rioting over issues like the state pension.
It comes after the DWP chief announced in March a decision on hiking the state pension age to 68 earlier had been delayed until after the next general election.
The state pension age is due to rise to 68 from 2044, but reports suggested ministers had wanted to bring that forward - potentially as early as 2035.
Appearing at an event in Westminster, Mr Stride was asked whether a future government would be able to hike the pension age without getting people out on the streets.
The Work and Pensions Secretary replied: "Well, look, I don't think we're France - that's the first thing.
"I don't think it's in our national psyche to start rioting and burning things over things like the state pension".
In recent months millions of protesters have taken to the streets in France in protest at the French Government's decision to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.
Explaining his move to delay the decision on the state pension, Mr Stride added: "Ultimately I took the decision because of Covid, because of the uncertainty economically."
He said it was important to give people 10 years' notice of any decision, adding the range of dates for hiking the state pension age "are well into the 2030s you're looking at".
"You're debating whether you're going to do in the 2030s-40s or thereabouts.
"So there's no reason why you need to take the decision now. You can wait until the first couple of years of the next Parliament."
Pressed on when was the earliest he could envisage it being changed from 67 to 68, he said: "I think it is fair to say that the earliest would be Cridland's suggestion of 2037, but that was predicated on different life expectancy data.
"And in fact if you applied what we know now to Cridland's methodology, you would end up with a date in the 2050s actually.
"Neville-Rolfe came in with something in the 2040s, so I suspect it is in that range of 2040 or thereabouts.
"But it will be for somebody else to sift through the data in the next Parliament."
Despite the disastrous results of the local elections last week, Mr Stride also claimed the Tories still had a "narrow path" to victory at the next general election.
"It's not about the number of seats you win, it's about the swing," he insisted.
"The swing - if you compute everything through - is sub 10%. If you look at where at Blair was before '97, where we [the Conservatives] before 2010, you've got to be well north of 10% to be in position this one looks like it's pretty much in the bag.
He added that there was a "huge amount" of tactical voting, which, he claimed get "squeezed out" as the country heads towards a general election.
"I think there are many reasons why the game is not up and there is everything to play for".
He also said if the Government succeeds in returning to pre-pandemic levels of economic activity, the economy would increase the size of the economy by 0.2%.
This, he said, would be enough to take £2p off the basic rate of tax.
"What I'm in the business of doing is getting people back to work - but also delivering the Chancellor with the greatest possible flexibility when it comes to setting out his stall this autumn and in the spring," he said.
