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Pensions

I tell noble Lords from this Dispatch Box that I have genuinely been engaged on other departmental business and have not read today’s Financial Times. I entirely reject the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood, that the Pensions Commission was a device to avoid the Government facing controversy over pensions during the election period. The Pensions Commission has done a marvellous job. Many people have acknowledged the quality of its reports. Its work has also engendered a very healthy public debate. Perhaps not everyone on the No. 50 bus in Birmingham is talking about pensions but there is no doubt that many people are. I do not know what is in the Pensions Commission report but I assure noble Lords that I hope in future to work with all colleagues here on a consensus basis. If we are to get this matter right, we have to work together, and we must get it right for the sake of our children, our children’s children and future generations.