---

Pensions Bill

My Lords, I am not saying that. The Government will not accept either. I hate to teach the noble Lord his business, but the point is that we could have defeated the Government this afternoon, but we cannot defeat them now. I guarantee to the noble Lord that we will not defeat them now, because of the time and because of all the points that anyone with any sense knows about this House. If the noble Lord thinks that we are going to defeat them now, he is living in a fool’s paradise. We should not have arguments about such basic politics. The losers on this are going to be people in their 70s. I much regret that, and it is on the conscience of the Liberal Democrats that they have done that. The noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, referred to tactics. I fear that his tactics this afternoon have not been very bright and the losers are a number of pensioners and people coming up to pension age. I very much regret that.