Clause 1 - Meaning of “Savings and Retirement Account (SaRA) schemes”
Rights of Savers Bill
2:30 pm
Malcolm Rifkind (Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions & Welfare Reform, Work & Pensions & Welfare Reform; Kensington and Chelsea, Conservative)
Thank you, Mr. Benton. This is an unusual Bill in two respects. First, it received the unanimous endorsement of the House on Second Reading. The House did not divide, and the Minister was kind enough to pay several compliments on the Bill’s content. Therefore, the Bill has reached the Committee with the unadulterated enthusiasm of the House as a whole.
I said, however, that the Bill was unusual in two respects, the second of which is that the Minister has tabled amendments that, without exception, without further debate or any question of amendment, will delete every clause. He may suggest that that is standard practice, but I have taken some advice on the matter. I am advised that those who know such things can remember only two precedents in the past 100 years when the Government of the day sought, without deliberation or consideration, to negative every clause of a Bill that received unopposed Second Reading.