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CPI/RPI Pensions Uprating

I am grateful for my hon. Friend's intervention, as I did not have the judgment to hand. I am sure that the Minister will have taken note. [Hon. Members: ““That was a dissenting judge.””] Even so, it is a fairly radical criticism of the justification for this change, and the Government would do well to take note of it from such a learned source. The TUC's general secretary, Brendan Barber, has said of the general pensions crisis:"““The real pension crisis in the UK is the retreat by employers from providing pensions in the private sector””—" that point has been acknowledged by Government Members—"““and the big unexpected looming bill for tax-payers is the cost of means-tested benefits for the millions let down by their employers.””" That is another reference to the issue of false economy, which the whole House should take into consideration. There are risks in implementing this strategy. If we try to balance the books now on the basis of future payouts to pensioners, we may well be storing up costs for the future as people decide to opt out of pensions altogether. That would mean that when they retired they qualified for means-tested benefits, so the cost to the Exchequer would be higher. In the private sector, large numbers of pensioners are already starting to feel the pinch from these moves.