amendment of the law

Mark Tami Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[David Wright]

I want to develop my argument before I give way again.

Telford has a particularly good and proactive Labour council, which is driving forward investment projects that will have a very positive effect on our local community. Hundreds of millions of pounds have been invested in the Southwater scheme in the town centre as a result of a partnership between the public and private sectors. That is what a proactive Labour council can do to deliver jobs and investment in the community.

Let me now say a little about what was in the Budget, what was not in it, and what could have been in it. I think that we can give a cautious welcome to what the Government have said about pensions reform, but I also think that the devil will be in the detail. A number of Members have referred to the mis-selling scandals that have taken place over the past few decades. There are significant problems involving fees, and we shall need to look at the regulatory regime more broadly in relation to the pensions market and the pensions sector. I assume that a Bill will be announced in the Queen’s Speech.

There are serious issues to consider in respect of how the pensions sector sits alongside social care, and how we should fund social care in the long term. I am not making a party point. If we are to reform the pensions structure and change the way in which people receive resources and assets, there are serious questions to be asked about the echoes of that when it comes to how we should pay for longer-term care for the people who will need it as our population ages.

[Mark Tami (Alyn and Deeside) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend not think that it would have been better for the Government to explore some of those issues before announcing a policy that had clearly had not been fully thought through?

[David Wright]

I agree. I think that the Government could have made an announcement much earlier. They could have conducted a consultation exercise across the pensions sector, and we could then have reached a consensus in the House. The Chancellor is clearly attempting to use this issue as a political tool. We need to have a long-term debate, because these matters will affect our constituents in the very long term. I do trust people with their pension pots; I do trust people to make the right decisions. The people I do not particularly trust are those in the financial sector who will be coming up with new products to sell to people as the pension environment changes. That worries me, and we must think very carefully about how we regulate that sector.

The welfare cap is another issue that came up in the Budget. I do not have a problem with the welfare cap in principle as long as it acknowledges the prevailing economic circumstances that people face in local communities. A blanket cap that does not acknowledge changes in the economy or what is happening in the wider economy just will not work.

I also welcome the development on ISAs. The raising of the threshold to £15,000 is a good thing and gives a positive message about savings, but I have to say that the Conservative party seems to be living in a different world from me. Not many people in Telford can afford to invest £15,000 a year in an ISA, and I cannot think of many couples who can invest double the amount.