New Clause 2
Pensions Bill
4:00 pm
Nigel Waterson (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Eastbourne, Conservative)
The Americans would say that “pernicious” is a ten-dollar word, but I suppose that it covers the point. The word that I often use is “cancerous”, because means-testing eats away at private savings. Although other factors may be at work as well, much of the collapse in savings generally since 1997 is attributable to the surge in means-tested benefits. I cast no aspersions on those who are involved at the end of a phone or on home visits in trying to deliver means-tested benefits, but, with the best will in the world, there are natural limits to how far they can be pressed on those who need or deserve them.