Pensions Bill

I am sure that my hon. Friend can put that proposition to the House authorities. I am glad to say that I am not responsible for that—he must lobby the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West. I am glad that Conservative Members are at the heart of the consensus. They raised a couple of issues, with which I shall deal. However, I remain unsure whether the Liberal Democrats are part of the consensus. We shall find out shortly. I suspect that they do not want to vote against the Bill because they are worried about being accused of not supporting the improvements in it. Given that the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) said that he supported the Bill, but opposed almost all its policies; that he wants to end means-testing, but would not tell us how he proposed to do it; and that he wants to spend at least 0.5 per cent. more GDP on pensions, but when asked how he would fund it, he replied, ““You’ve done it with health””, we have no idea about his policy for next election. Indeed, it fell apart before our eyes as he spoke.