Clause 47 - Inspection of premises
Pensions Bill
3:30 pm
Mr George Osborne (Tatton, Conservative)
The Under-Secretary is merely confirming that the present Government are as authoritarian as the previous Government. [Hon. Members: ''Oh!''] I hear howls of protest, but I am not sure whether they are trying to tell me that they are more authoritarian. Certainly, one comes to that conclusion on seeing some of the things that the Home Office is doing.
Unfortunately, I do not have teams of civil servants to go through the reports of the Committee stages of the 1993 and 1995 Acts and see what all the Labour spokesmen said when the Conservative Government of that time were taking those powers—[Hon. Members: ''Shame.''] Perhaps that is how I should spend my weekends—or perhaps not.
It is important that the regulator is cautious in the use of those foraging powers, and the Under-Secretary assures me that that will be the case. Therefore, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 47 ordered to stand part of the Bill.