Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but let me tell him that the people of Bristol West voted for my No. 1 pledge, which I talked about continuously during the general election and which is something I have stood for all my political life: rescuing people from poverty, particularly children from poorer backgrounds. The introduction of the pupil premium will make a significant long-term difference to the life chances of young people in our country. It will be far more effective and make a far greater difference than telling everyone, whatever their circumstances, that when they are 18 they will get some money to spend on their birthday party or some other initiative. The dogmatic difference between the two sides is that we believe that enabling people to make choices about their lives is far more important than the state saying, ““Here is some money to spend at some point in the future.””