Finance Bill

I agree with my hon. Friend and neighbour. To put it succinctly, there were some rip-off merchants around. This Government introduced schemes such as the financial assistance scheme to help those who suffered as a result of past rip-offs, the aim being to clamp down on past rip-offs and any prospective future rip-offs; and if any more rip-offs do occur, the Pension Protection Fund is there to prevent more people from suffering. There were bad people around, and, as my hon. Friend says, there is only so much that a Government can do to deal with that. Sometimes they have to act after the horse as bolted, as with the financial assistance scheme or the Pension Protection Fund. I am sure that the Paymaster General has the figures at her fingertips and will correct me if I am wrong but, according to my recollection, in recent years, during the so-called pensions crisis referred to in the amendment, the amount in pension funds has more or less doubled. It is up to about £790 billion. The Opposition may speak of a pensions crisis, but although there are problems with pensions and people’s lives have been devastated—I do not want my position to be misunderstood in that regard—it does not strike me as very illuminating to use the term ““pensions crisis? in a general sense when the amount of money in pension funds has doubled. I repeat that I do not underestimate the devastation of people’s lives, but I would not describe it as a general crisis, as the amendment seems to. Of course it is a crisis for some individuals—about 125,000—and it must be absolutely awful for them.