Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation — 7 Jul 1997

That is the old language of fiscal fine-tuning. I could not help thinking that, unlike most of the speech, this passage was written by the Chancellor himself. In his speeches in the House 10 years ago, he was a far more committed supporter of fiscal fine-tuning than he is now.

I should like to give the hon. Lady the opportunity to correct what must have been an error or, at the very least, give the Chief Secretary an opportunity during his wind-up speech to correct what his colleague has said, which is seriously misleading and has been directly contradicted by all the independent advice from actuaries, pension fund managers, trustees and business men. A pension change that takes £4 billion a year or more out of pension funds cannot be reconciled with the Financial Secretary's comment, when she said:

"People should understand that our reforms will benefit pension funds."--[ Official Report, House of Commons , 3 July 1997; Vol. 297, c. 507.]

Question put: --

The House divided: Ayes 342, Noes 196.

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