Social Security

I am afraid that it does not demonstrate that at all. If the hon. Gentleman takes the view that pay rises have no impact on inflation and that inflation does not matter, he is taking us back to the days of Thatcher, Major and roaring high inflation. That just shows that the Tories have learned nothing in the past 20 years. Let me return to the orders before us. The Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order sets out the amount by which contracted-out defined-benefit pension schemes must increase members' guaranteed minimum pensions that accrued between 1988 and 1997. Where the annual increase in the retail prices index exceeds 3 per cent., the guaranteed minimum pensions indexation requirement is capped at that level under primary legislation. This year's order therefore provides for an increase of 3 per cent. The order provides an extra £2.8 billion to pensioners. This underlines our commitment to today's pensioners. In real terms, the Government have done more for older people than any Government before them. Today, for the first time in a period of sustained economic growth, pensioners are less likely to be living in poverty than the population as a whole. Today's pensioners are, on average, £1,500 a year better off than they were under the last Conservative Government. We have focused on the poorest pensioners, and they are now £2,200 a year better off.