Welfare Reform Bill

I thank the Minister for his replies. I also welcome the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, to a speaking part for the first time this afternoon. I notice that he has a very fetching daffodil in his lapel—celebrating St. David’s Day, I assume. I am pleased to say that the noble Baroness is putting hers back on; it suits her even better. I hope that this is not a sign that the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, and the noble Baroness are going to be on the same side for the rest of the day. There is obviously an issue of principle here, which we have discussed at some length. I shall leave the matter of discretionary housing payments to the noble Lord, but it is clear that the budget is cash-limited in each authority and that, in many authorities, the money runs out long before the end of the financial year. When he has had a chance to check, I should be grateful if he could confirm that to me. Basically, as I said, we are talking about an issue of principle. I heard all the arguments that the Minister produced about the relative earnings of young people of different ages. I thought that he set it out very well. I should have thought that all the arguments , circumstances and ratios were exactly the same in 1996, when his party was completely against this measure, and I did not hear a single suggestion from him about what had changed since.