Pensions Bill

No, that is not our plan, but our commitment is public and stated, and goes throughout the whole ...

Perhaps I am an anorak, as the chairman of the pension fund for Members, but one of the issues is...

I fully respect the hon. Gentleman’s knowledge of pensions, and that is the case. We have not shi...

In that case, it will mean a pay cut to a considerable number of people in the public sector.

My point was that although, of course, the charge will add to the amount they pay, overall they w...

Another concern that has been raised about the potential problems with transferring small pots is...

We plan to head that off. We will have much more stringent quality standards, which will ensure t...

Small pots cannot currently be transferred to the National Employment Savings Trust. Can the Secr...

This is obviously Second Reading, but we will have further discussions on that subject. We know t...

I wanted to catch the right hon. Gentleman’s eye before he left that point. With reference to hon...

Yes, I can confirm that to the right hon. Gentleman. Unless there is some reason why he disagrees...

I thank the Secretary of State for giving way before he moves on. We are talking about winners an...

No. I am not sure how the hon. Lady arrived at that conclusion. It is not the case. The vast majo...

When my right hon. Friend gets on to that topic, the House will listen with interest. He has talk...

I hear my hon. Friend, and I would simply say to him that that would cost a sum knocking on the d...

If the Secretary of State is not prepared to go as far as the hon. Member for Worthing West (Sir ...

Whenever the hon. Lady speaks, I always want to help her, particularly as I am due to appear in f...

I congratulate the Government on the Bill. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is extremely i...

I am interested that my hon. Friend raises that point, because I have been in discussions with my...

It is a great pleasure to follow the Secretary of State. I shall attempt to do justice to his suc...

The right hon. Gentleman talked about building on the strong foundations left by the previous Gov...

The hon. Gentleman will be as familiar as I am with the research published by the Institute for F...

Does the shadow Minister accept that over the 13 years of the previous Administration, nothing wh...

We are very proud of the reforms that we set in place. They tackled the grotesque pensioner pover...

Did I hear the right hon. Gentleman right when he said that the Bill’s move to axe the means-test...

I will leave it to the hon. Gentleman to provide his own definition of the word “huge.” He will h...

I had not meant to intervene, but the right hon. Gentleman has spent the first part of his speech...

We were ambitious and wanted to focus our resources on tackling pensioner poverty. I am reluctant...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way in a moment. I will just flag another issue that the pensions Minister might say ...

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the position of women born between April ’51 and April ’53. Wi...

I suspected that the pensions Minister would want to play politics with this issue. However, I ho...

The pensions Minister gave the figure of £4.5 billion to put this group of women born between Apr...

It is hard to refute my hon. Friend’s argument. I suppose we must look at the position of those w...

Will the right hon. Gentleman look at the work of the Work and Pensions Committee and its pre-leg...

I very much hope that the hon. Lady will be on the Bill Committee to ensure that such arguments a...

I declare an interest in that my partner was born in exactly this period. In this spirit of equal...

As the hon. Gentleman will know, many of these women have already been hit by the acceleration of...

rose—

No—[Interruption.] I will certainly give way to the Minister in a moment, but I want to underline...

I believe the shadow Secretary of State has inadvertently misspoken. Will he confirm that no wome...

The Minister is right. I was referring to the problem that the state pension age has been moved a...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will move on, but I will give way in a moment.

A flat-rate pension is a good idea and its...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way—he is being generous, as ever. I want to...

The Secretary of State and I have no difference of opinion on the need regularly to review the st...

I note the points the right hon. Gentleman is making, and I can see that they have some sense. Do...

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. My chief concern in this debate on principles is for...

It is a pleasure to be called in this debate and to welcome this much-needed reform. I served on ...

indicated assent.

It is unusual for Ministers to welcome that, given my record of moving amendments, so the Ministe...

I appreciate that the hon. Gentleman has been honest in saying that his retirement is some way of...

I think we recognise that in any change some people will lose out—it was particularly difficult t...

I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s expertise on these issues. Does he agree that we have a big job ...

I agree wholeheartedly. I think we have all had people come to us with calculations saying, “What...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there are a remarkable number of people who do not know that t...

I absolutely agree. The system is so complicated that it is hard for any of us to know exactly wh...

It is important that any pension reform has support in all parties across the House, because the ...

Does the hon. Lady regret the fact that two out of every five people who qualify for pension cred...

I welcome the reduction in means-testing, but the hon. Gentleman should be aware that there are t...

I have been reflecting on what the hon. Lady said about the National Employment Savings Trust. It...

We did indeed. We did not consider it during our pre-legislative scrutiny, because the issue is n...

The “pot follows member” proposal interests me as well. Did the Select Committee give any thought...

We did indeed. In fact, that was the favoured option of many of our witnesses. The Government did...

I share the hon. Lady’s concern. In their retirement, a group of people who have depended entirel...

Indeed. We talk a great deal about how women’s lives have changed. Younger women may have built u...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg), Chair of the Work...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful and persuasive speech. Does he recognise the point I made ear...

My hon. Friend was right to raise that point, which was echoed by the Chair of the Select Committ...

I am immensely pleased to be able to contribute to this debate, and I shall do so briefly.

...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field). I welcome the Bill as...

I am, perhaps, risking making the debate more political than it needs to be, but cannot this refo...

That is a very interesting comment. As I saw it, the previous Government dealt with the worst cir...

The platform I was trying to describe did not simply include the introduction of things such as p...

They were certainly part of the platform that created the degree of confusion and complexity that...

rose—

No, I will not take another intervention for the time being.

We need to send out the same m...

I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman about the virtue of making the system less complex and m...

That will need to be considered. As I am well aware, parts of north Wales have long-term unemploy...

The hon. Gentleman has made the point that he wants work to pay and for people to know that doing...

I will come back to some of the important points about the transitional changes, but I suspect th...

My hon. Friend is right to note that some people who are self-employed might prefer to be in empl...

I agree with that point. It is an important consideration, especially for people who, because of ...

First, I should declare an interest: I am a man born before 6 December 1953—just.

Like othe...

It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate. The Bill is a major piece of legislation that is ...

Does my hon. Friend not mean that we have heard a “glass half empty” response?

My hon. Friend is probably right, in the sense that the overwhelming response from the Opposition...

The hon. Gentleman has enticed me from my sedentary position. Can he confirm what his colleague t...

Alas, I was not at the Pensions Minister’s meeting with the Financial Times. However, the hon. Ge...

The hon. Gentleman’s history appears to be slightly at odds with reality. The infamous 75p increa...

I read modern history, not ancient history, at university. My clear recollection of recent and mo...

rose—

The shadow Minister rises again from his place. I welcome him.

I thank the hon. Gentleman. I note that he did not clarify whether the pensions Minister had inde...

The hon. Gentleman is correct. The break between pensions and earnings caused considerable upset ...

I have followed this debate closely and it is important to say from the outset that simplificatio...

I am interested in the hon. Lady’s comments on the complexity of the transition. Will she clarify...

The most important point I can make in response to the hon. Lady is that Scotland is spending a l...

The hon. Lady said that it would be complex to find out people’s national insurance contributions...

I do not think that that is beyond the wit of Members in this Chamber or those in Holyrood. We ha...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will not for the moment, because I have been carried off track from the debate about single-tie...

rose—

I will not give way because I am just finishing.

Every round of pension reform over the pas...

It is a great pleasure to speak in support of the Bill and the introduction of the single-tier pe...

rose—

I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman because he has been critical in the past of the self-...

The hon. Lady makes an important argument that I am following with great interest. The Opposition...

I agree that the self-employed demand certainty, and one reason the deal needs to be generous is ...

I will focus my comments on issues raised with me by women from my constituency who were born in ...

I understand the confusion because we did originally propose to introduce these measures in 2017....

I thank the Minister for that information. Louise Fox is not my constituent, but she will find th...

Before I come to the substance of the Bill, I want to make one point in response to the Oppositio...

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful and informed speech. Does he agree that the right hon. Me...

I agree broadly with my hon. Friend. I am not sure that it is fair to accuse the right hon. Membe...

The hon. Gentleman is making a compelling speech. Is he as concerned as I am about where on earth...

I was just about to come on to that point. That is an extraordinary challenge. Public sector work...

Increasing dignity in retirement, respecting the contributory principle in our social security sy...

Can the hon. Gentleman be certain that, if Scotland were to become independent, his constituents ...

Very sadly, I cannot be sure on that point. As I shall come on to say in a moment, further doubt ...

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in a debate on what is clearly a complex subject. S...

I am puzzled by the hon. Lady’s suggestion that the Government are building on some great platfor...

In financial terms, it is clearly building on that platform. Had the previous system not been in ...

Surely we would otherwise have had a single state pension that would already have been a great de...

I think the hon. Gentleman is suggesting that all parties—and I am not sure this had come from hi...

Like many other Members on the Government side of the House, I strongly support the Bill. My hon....

indicated assent.

The Minister is nodding, so I will not push the point. However, we are in the new world of portfo...

It is £44 billion.

I am told that the figure is £44 billion: a lot of money. It behoves us—it behoved the last Gover...

I endorse almost everything that the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) has just said...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am sorry, but much time has been taken up by the important contributions of other Members and I...

rose—

As I said earlier to the hon. Gentleman, it is important to give the Minister enough time to wind...

rose—

Given the hon. Gentleman’s persistence, I will happily give way.

I am grateful. Could the shadow Minister not perhaps recognise some fault in Labour’s past, parti...

I do not think the hon. Gentleman has been listening to what I said. To recap: the flat-rate stat...

We have had five hours to talk about pensions—what could be better? The debate has been unusual i...

The Minister is making a powerful winding-up speech. He told the Financial Times this morning tha...

Let me be absolutely clear: the triple lock, as a concept, was in the 2010 Liberal Democrat manif...

Is the Minister saying to the House tonight, and will the Chancellor confirm in the spending revi...

Just to be clear, the single tier comes in in 2016, which is not within the scope of the spending...

Will the Minister give way?

I have given way to the right hon. Gentleman twice already, so I will make some progress.

A...

I want to correct the Minister. I did not suggest that we could not run two systems in parallel; ...

The hon. Gentleman raised a lot of questions, which it is his job to do obviously, but did not of...

rose—

Just a minute. I am enjoying this too much.

How would we splice together different countrie...

Does the Minister accept that Scotland is currently spending a smaller proportion of its GDP and ...

The hon. Lady raises the issue of pension spending in Scotland. She will know that Scotland is ag...