Clause 1
Pensions Bill
12:00 pm
David Laws (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Work & Pensions; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
That is very helpful indeed. It will mean that when we vote on the new clause later, we will be much better informed, and we look forward to that.
At the end of his comments, the Minister fell back on the argument, used by the Secretary of State in front of the Select Committee and in the Government’s response to the Select Committee’s report, that the 2010 date was tied in some logical way to the increase in the state pension age. I find that an unpersuasive argument tacked on to justify this particular phasing. Although men are not as disadvantaged as women under the current basic state pension system, men who retire before and after the cut-off date will still face the anomaly that I talked about. Therefore, very many men as well as women will feel that it is unjust. At the moment, I do not detect an enormous swell of support for the amendment among other Committee members. In its absence, we will look forward to the Minister’s briefing note on new clause 12, which will give us an opportunity to return to the issue. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.