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Pensions Bill

I thank the Minister very much for that explanation. As the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, said, it is not the regulations which give us cause for concern—they are proceeding along a quite reasonable process and are being consulted on and I have no reason to think from anything that the Government have said that that will cause problems—it is this amendment and the width of it. The noble Lord says that clearance statements will be sacrosanct, but that is not what the amendment says. The noble Lord says that retro-activity will apply only to the date of announcement of each new set of regulations, but that is not what the amendment says. Our problems are very much focused on the amendment. Those two elements—retro-activity and the sanctity of clearance statements—lie at the heart of people’s concerns. If they were dealt with, it would be much easier to get on with.