Pensions Bill

My Lords, it seems to be the fashion in this debate for most, if not all noble Lords, to declare their age and pensions arrangements, so I am happy to declare mine. I am 61, so I could be buying an annuity—I just have a defined contribution pension—but, luckily, I have a good salary and do not need to do so now. If I were older, the last thing I would want is a temporary suspension, be it for six months or two years, not knowing where I stood. I am afraid that the speeches that we have heard, particularly the powerful speeches from the Conservative Benches, are effective in favour of not this amendment but Amendment No. 77 or Amendment No. 77A, in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, which would permanently raise the limit by a significant number of years. The point has been made very powerfully that people will need a few years to rebuild their pension pots, which have been cruelly savaged by recent market movements. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, on finding an ingenious way to bring his amendment up the batting order, but many of the arguments are essentially those with which we shall deal later. Anyone who has experience in long-term pension planning would not and could not support an unknown and temporary suspension. This proposal appears to have been drafted on the back of a fag packet by the noble Lord’s right honourable friend David Cameron a week or two ago. We have not seen it previously. I remember jointly moving in this House an amendment with the noble Lord, Lord Higgins, to raise the limits to 85 and then to 80. Even if noble Lords feel that there should be no limit, surely the practical way to deal with the present situation is to support one of the later amendments to raise the limit either to 80 or 85. This amendment produces just uncertainty and confusion. How we do know when the markets will be more normal again? Surely we need at least five years for people who have 30 per cent or 40 per cent of their pot to rebuild it. That is the proper way to do it.