---

National Insurance Contributions Bill

I think we could just say that it was not intended by the Treasury that they should not gain, as that is what all this is about. The other thing that the Minister said was that flat-lining the state second pension would help to pay for the earnings linking. Well, fine—let us introduce it at the same time. But we are not doing that; we are raising money from flat-lining it now, possibly six years before the earnings linkage is restored. That is the dishonesty at the heart of this particular measure. The Minister said that the Pensions Commission had one version ending in 2030, which the Government then grabbed. But the Pensions Commission were going to start in 2010, not 2009. The Government said that they would do 2030 but that anything else that happened still had to end in 2030 and would start whenever the Treasury wanted. This is really about consensus on the Pensions Bill; it is not so much about this Bill. The Government are cherry-picking to raise taxes. We understand that they have to do that, because the fiscal position is so weak; but in doing so, by taking little bits here and there and not introducing them all together and still giving no indication of when the earnings linkage will be restored, I have to say to the Minister that the Government, through him, are endangering the consensus on the Pensions Bill. That is the burden of my remarks.