Pension Reform

Answer: All new Members can be forgiven for misunderstanding what Question Time is about. The reception that my Ministers and I—I am sure that this is also true of the main Opposition party—have received when we have gone round the country discussing pensions is very simple. People want us to take the matter seriously and to have stable and secure solutions for the future. Above all, they do not want a party political knockabout. If the hon. Lady learns that lesson, she will have learned something worth while for the future.

This is an answer to the Oral question asked on Monday, 31 October 2005 by Baroness Featherstone (Liberal Democrat).

Question: Given that the Minister's judgment has been so publicly brought into question in recent times, does he believe that he remains in a position to secure the consensus that he mentioned in a divided Cabinet over the urgent need radically to reform the pensions system?

Secondary information