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Occupational Pensions

It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller), and I am very pleased to contribute to a debate that is rather shorter than originally envisaged. I begin by joining others in paying tribute to the hon. Member for Cannock Chase (Dr. Wright) for the report that he has produced and the masterful way in which he opened the debate. Although it is invidious to mention individuals at the end of a debate such as this, I should like to pay particular tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young). He made an excellent contribution and may have showed the Government how they can get out of this mess. I also want to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), who has been a truly doughty campaigner for those of his constituents who have suffered so badly. After nine long years, this Government are finally tackling the pensions crisis. The Opposition have been working hard with Ministers and officials to try to achieve a consensus on pensions reform. We embarked on the task for three reasons. First, it is the right thing to do, given the breadth and depth of the pensions crisis. Some 2 million pensioners are still living in poverty, and a recent report showed that, unlike the rest of the population, pensioners have to live with a 9 per cent. rate of inflation. Council tax has soared, and half of all pensioners are subject to means-tested benefits. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics show a further decline in private sector pension provision. Since 1997, 60,000 occupational pension schemes have closed, and 125,000 people have lost their pensions. When Labour took office in 1997, Britain had the strongest pension provision in Europe, but now it is among the weakest. The charge sheet laid at the Government’s door in respect of pensions goes beyond mere inaction in the face of a growing crisis: it makes it clear that the Government have heaped additional costs and red tape on companies that have tried to keep their pension schemes going. Moreover, it is this Chancellor—the clunking fist himself—who through his annual £5 billion tax raid on pensions has forced schemes into deficit or to close to new, or even existing, members.