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Raising of the Pension Age

No, because the hon. Gentleman's quote says that the Conservatives would be prepared to rush the rise forward to 2016 for men and to 2020 for women. The Pensions Policy Institute, speaking about raising the pension age to 66 for men from 2016, has said that every man under the age of 58 will be affected and will have to save an extra £55 a month to bridge the gap of the lost year of pension. That is the burden that the Tories are prepared to put on men, and it would affect women as well. I think that the Tories are also prepared rapidly to bring forward the date of implementation of the higher ages and that, although this has not yet been stated, the pension age will become 70 within a short time under the Tories. I ask the hon. Gentleman what the Conservative party will put in its manifesto. If it shirks this issue and is elected, it will have no right to bring in a higher pension age; it has to be specific about its proposals before the election, not after it.