New Clause 8
Pensions Bill
9:10 am
Nigel Waterson (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Eastbourne, Conservative)
Good morning, Mr. Taylor. I am delighted that you and other members of the Committee have been able to make it here through the snow. This is the last day of this Committee, so I wonder what we are going to do with ourselves on Tuesdays and Thursdays from now on.
The argument on annuities is familiar. It is familiar in part because no fewer than four of my Conservative colleagues have used the opportunity of the private Member’s Bill ballot to put forward the proposition. It is an important issue that affects a number of people—including many who are not affected at the moment, because it touches on their future behaviour. I have been toying with the idea of declaring an interest, as I have some private pension provision and I am not yet 75—although, listening to the hon. Member for Yeovil, one does see one’s life flashing before one’s eyes.
I mentioned previous private Members’ Bills. I should particularly like to pay tribute to the Rights of Savers Bill, which was introduced by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kensington and Chelsea (Sir Malcolm Rifkind). It build elegantly on earlier attempts at dealing with the problem, it was extremely well drafted, and it widened out the debate to cover how we encourage saving for the future, so it dovetails well with the argument about the shape of personal accounts. I have drawn heavily on that excellent Bill for the new clauses.
No other country, as far as I have been able to discover, has a compulsory annuitisation rule. I shall be happy to give way to the Minister now if he can tell me of one that does.