If the hon. Gentleman reads our next manifesto, which I hope he will do, he will see that, like all things in politics, matters move forward. People realise that change has to be made. I am sure the hon. Gentleman remembers that old cliché that someone who never changes his mind never changes anything. This is a clear example of the way in which the alliance is becoming more flexible and believes that those who desire a broader interpretation of the concession should be given an opportunity to gain it. The alliance's approach to this matter is on the right track.

I hope that this will not be an issue at the general election and that the Bill presented by the hon. Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) will receive the support of the House so that the matter will be dealt with long before we have to face the electorate. There is undoubtedly a demand within the country for these changes to take place.

I have a letter from a Mr. Welland who is employed in the TV licensing department in Portsmouth. Last October, in a letter to the Portsmouth local authority in reply to its query on how the present rules could be interpreted, he said: You will appreciate that it is not possible to provide a comprehensive statement of the facilities which would confer entitlement to the concessionary licence. Those concessions cannot be given because it is difficult to provide a comprehensive statement. Mr. Welland went on to provide the local authority with the conditions of eligiblity, but said that there were grey and murky areas in which there could be widespread misinterpretation and confusion.

If the people who implement the present rules do not have a clear picture of how this can be managed, surely something must be done. Indeed, a recent letter from the Home Office to one of my constituents said: Perhaps I should first explain that there is a special television licence for certain old people's homes and sheltered housing schemes. It was not intended to be a welfare concession, but was introduced to provide a uniform system of licensing in old people's homes and comparable residential accommodation for pensioners… The Home Secretary recognises that television is an important source of information and entertainment for many elderly people. My constituent recognises that the present system gives rise to grave areas of doubt and anomalies and that it is a cause of resentment. The Home Office and the Home Secretary recognise, as do the people interpreting the rules, that the current scheme has major problems. Surely, therefore, there can be no excuse for saying that nothing should be done and that we should leave the scheme as it is.

Once again, I draw on my constituency experience. This week the housing department in Portsmouth provided me with a list which tells me that in six major tower blocks, each with more than 120 dwellings, in nearly every block more than 50 per cent. of the inhabitants are granted the concession. The anomalies are too big to ignore. Two people live on the same floor in adjacent flats. One occupies a one-bedroom flat and receives the concession, while his nextdoor neighbour, who lives in exactly the same circumstances, except that because there was no one-bedroom accommodation available had to be given a two-bedroom flat, has to pay the full licence. It is impossible to argue against the need to change that state of affairs.

I defy the Home Secretary, the Minister of State, or anyone else to defend the position that where two pensioners live on the same floor of a block of flats, the only difference being that one has a one-bedroom flat and the other has a two-bedroomed flat, one has to pay £58 and the other has to pay only 5p. The position is indefensible, but, nevertheless, giving the concession to every pensioner would be wrong. As I said, there are many pensioners who can well afford to pay the licence fee. There are many examples, which do not need to be repeated by me today, of people who can and will continue to pay for the licence, but there are many non-pensioners who should be given the concession. I have in mind the long-term unemployed and people who, for other reasons, are unable to meet the full cost because of their predicament and the way in which society has plunged them into major problems.

Changes must be made. The alliance has said that the Peacock report went along the right lines and drew out those anomalies. It tried to perform a duty by recognising that difficulties existed, and also that there were difficulties in finding a solution to the problem, such as how to compensate the BBC for the loss of revenue. The hon. Member for Walsall, North also made this point. The hon. Member made it clear that at the end of the day his legislation would not involve major costs and that the sum should be found to make the concession system fairer and more realistic. It would be wrong to ignore the call of the British people for these changes. I can think of few matters that have so united people as this one has in their attempt to bring it to the attention of Parliament in the nearly three years that I have been here. Nor have all those people been pensioners. Many people believe that we have a duty to recognise this unfairness and to respond to it. The Minister cannot possibly make a case to defend the present position. He may come to the House in an enlightened mood today and tell us what the Government intend to make the system fairer in a way that would make the Bill unnecessary, but I doubt that. That is why it is critical that we support the Bill and send it to Committee, where hon. Members can amend it.