Business of the House

Ian Blackford Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

Those two announcements are really good news. The latter is good news for south Wales, which we very much welcome. Given all the pressures on the steel industry, we want as many new investments as possible in Wales. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) says it is because of Labour. Actually, it is because this Government have made the United Kingdom a strong place for international businesses to invest in. We have also had the decision to build a new factory to make Aston Martin cars in south Wales. It is reassuring that, even at a difficult time internationally, the United Kingdom is still seen as a strong place for international investment for the long term.

[Ian Blackford (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP)]

As of today, 78 Members of the House from seven parties, including the party of Government, have signed early-day motion 1235, which seeks to annul a statutory instrument to freeze pensions.

[That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2016 (S.I., 2016, No. 246), dated 25 February 2016, a copy of which was laid before this House on 1 March 2016, be annulled.]

Regulations that deprive overseas pensioners of the uprating adjustment to their state pension have been forced through this House without a debate. Will the Government heed the cross-party initiative to annul the regulations, and hold a debate urgently to assess the devastating impact of these charges on UK pensioners living abroad? Perhaps this time the Leader of the House might just answer the question.

[Chris Grayling]

I have answered the question. I have been a Work and Pensions Minister, and I have previously looked at the issue. The Government have no intention of changing the current situation. The cost of doing so would be enormous, and the situation that pensioners face has been the same for decades.