Clause 1 - Entitlement
State Pension Credit Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
The hon. Gentleman, who has recently arrived in this place, would not want me to comment on correspondence on its own and out of context. Perhaps he did not understand what I said to his colleague. We shall consider such matters, decide on our approach and announce it.
I also said—the hon. Gentleman may want to differ about this, although I hope that he will not differ about the rest—that he may yet find that, having turned up to grumble, he returns to cheer. Indeed, it is already clear from the remarks of the hon. Member for Kettering, my constituency neighbour, which were made only yesterday, that several Labour Members are unhappy with the approach of moving to a means-tested credit and ultimately extending means-testing to probably two thirds of pensioners, if not more. It goes against their principles, if they have them—I hope they do—and may not be effective in dealing with poorer pensioners' interests.
I recall a meeting of members of the Greater London Pensioners Association—not in this Room, but next door—whom one might think are perhaps not my natural soul mates. However, they felt strongly that they wanted the measure to be a basic credit, rather than a means-tested credit. I signal to Labour Members, who might be cutting themselves off from some of their roots, that many people who would not necessarily put their cross against the name of a Tory candidate are unhappy with this tendency.