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Pensions Bill

I was alerted to this amendment when I looked through the Marshalled List earlier today. I was certainly interested in the tax aspects and the balance of tax, as has been explained quite beautifully. Indeed, in all my years in your Lordships’ House, the past seven minutes have been some of the most rewarding and instructive. My noble friend has a point, and she and your Lordships will know that she is opposing a very highly qualified member of the profession. I am a member of the Scottish profession and our great motto is ““Seek the truth””. We have certainly found that this afternoon from my noble friend. It seems to me that there is a considerable problem here, particularly in that people might have a higher income. Indeed, my noble friend said that it depends on how long people work for during a year. Further on in the legislation, we shall find reference to share fishermen and people working on trawlers and so on. They have somewhat irregular periods of work during the year, let alone the tax year, so if the Minister could look at that, I should be very grateful. I am certainly immensely grateful to my noble friend for giving me a free two-minute lesson. I hope that the Minister can see his way to giving a supportive and helpful reply today or even at a later stage.