Clause 3
Pensions Bill
4:00 pm
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister (Small Business), Trade & Industry; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
I, too, welcome you to the chairmanship this afternoon, Mr. Taylor, and into the course of the Bill. This morning, we were treated to a number of helpful and interesting debates and, as often happens with Bills, the defining characteristics of the different groups are starting to emerge.
The watchword of the Conservatives seems to be “not a penny more for pensioners”, to which they seem to be sticking quite rigorously. The Minister seems to be saying on numerous occasions that the “computer says no”. Unfortunately, when I suggested that he might want to crack that joke, my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil was not quite so well up with what he calls youth culture. The Liberal Democrats’ watchword is that we are trying to get a better deal for pensioners. [Hon. Members: “Money tree”.] From a sedentary position, Conservative Members have mentioned a money tree but I would rather refer to it as a money sapling. In my defence, on our side of the House we have mentioned savings of £8 billion which have been identified already. Therefore, we are not going to take any lessons from the other parties on how to save or spend money.