Pensions Bill

I will give way in a few moments. I understand why the Government went down the road that they did. On the political front, the people who would benefit from a citizen’s pension are campaigning for it at the moment, but if we were proposing that those who had contributed through national insurance would benefit from it, they would now be campaigning on the basis that they had paid all that money so why should those who had paid nothing receive the same as them? On the basis of equity, the debate would have changed. As I said, I understand the political reasons behind the Government’s maintenance of the contributory principle. A great deal of work remains to be done to change people’s perceptions or feelings about the fairest way of operating a state pension system—that people should get something for something.