I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He emphasises that amendment 13 would not cost the Government anything. If it cost anything, it would be a minuscule amount to maintain the scheme because it has not yet started. The Minister froze it, and said that he would not start it in July 2010, as planned by the previous Labour Government. All the expense to date has been on the pilots in phase 1 and phase 2. I remind him that the legislation had his support and that of his hon. Friends the Liberal Democrats without a vote on Third Reading, and with warm words being spoken in Opposition. The situation now—it is self-evident to my hon. Friends—is that we have a scheme that is on the statute book and that has been successfully piloted but that has not commenced. Amendment 13 gives the Minister the opportunity to delay its commencement until at least 1 January 2014.
If the situation improves and the Minister's economic policies ensure that we tackle the deficit, build a strong economy, recoup our money from Ireland and consider all the issues that we have talked about during debates on the economy over the past few months, he will be able, if he wants, to go back to his electorate in Fareham, Truro, Falmouth and everywhere else and say, ““Not only have we helped to tackle the deficit, we have not hit poor people in doing so.”” He will have secured a scheme that he can continue to implement because he will be able to repeal the 1 January 2014 date later. Presumably, both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives thought that it was a good thing in February last year, or they would have voted against it on Third Reading, and would not have used such warm words to describe it from the Opposition Dispatch Box.
Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Hanson of Flint
(Labour)
in the House of Commons on Monday, 22 November 2010.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill.
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2010-12Chamber / Committee
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