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Pensions Bill

I believe that we have addressed that issue: those people will be taxed in exactly the same way as if the situation had not occurred and they had been paid regularly—but we shall be happy to write to the hon. Gentleman to set that out . Tonight's changes address the two key problems—that only a minority had access to a private pension, and that even those were unaffordable, so radical reforms were needed. In addition to paying tribute to the Pensions Commission, we should pay tribute to the stakeholders who have carried the Bill all the way through, and have been prepared to make trade-offs to ensure that that happens. The consumer representatives and the unions have accepted that the state pension age will be higher; the employers and the Association of British Insurers have accepted that there will be compulsory contributions from employers and the new low-cost personal accounts scheme. Because people have been prepared to make those trade-offs, the consensus has been solid throughout the Bill's passage. It means that, tonight, the combination of giving everyone access to personal accounts or to a private pension, combined with automatic involvement, will enable us to turn on its head the inertia that currently stops so many people from saving. In conclusion—we have little time, and I want to ensure that everyone who wants to speak can do so—we need to keep the word ““consensus”” at the forefront of our minds. Consensus is important not just as a political device, but in order to help people to save. If people are thinking about putting money away for 20, 30 or 40 years, they will be more likely to do it if they are confident that there is a consensus between political parties, which will ensure stability in the framework. In thinking about that, it is interesting to look back to a previous debate on the Social Security Pensions Bill 1975, which I read about this afternoon. I do not think that the hon. Member for Eastbourne had much to do with that particular Bill, although I am sure he will know how Barbara Castle felt when she said in opening her speech that it was the third time in just over five years that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Security, as she was then, had brought a pensions Bill before the House. If she is looking down on the hon. Member for Eastbourne now, I am sure that she will feel much sympathy for him. The interesting thing about that debate is that Barbara Castle said very clearly that she wanted to build her reforms on the basis of consensus. She said that she intended them to command general acceptance, and hoped they had succeeded in that regard. Later the Conservative spokesman—Lord Fowler, as he is now—said that his party believed consensus was possible. I think that on Third Reading there was no Division. Both sides hoped that the Bill would command a consensus that would continue, yet within years that consensus had fallen apart. The key thing that we should tell ourselves tonight is that by legislating we are not completing the reforms, but merely establishing the start of the process. If we believe, as I think Members in all parts of the House believe, that this is an important reform which is in the interests of millions of people—particularly low and moderate earners—I think we should say tonight that we are not satisfied for the consensus to be merely legislative, and that we will work together over the next few years to ensure that the hopes we have for the Bill will be realised in practice. We need to continue to make trade-offs, and to work together to improve the chance of millions of people to have decent incomes in retirement.