Pensions Bill
Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (Lab): I thank the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) for curtailing his comments, and I shall try to curtail mine.
On 22 January 2002, I was fortunate enough to secure a debate in Westminster Hall that allowed me to raise the plight of more than 1,000 former workers of United Engineering Forgings in the United Kingdom who had lost most of their expected pensions when the company went into administration. Since then, as we have heard, along with my colleagues on the Labour Benches, I have tabled early-day motions, tabled amendments, met Ministers and generally campaigned with the trade unions for a solution to what I still see as a major injustice.
The Government recognised that injustice and the fact that hard-working people had been affected, but they did not recognise that compensation was required. However, as other hon. Members have said in the debate today, we achieved incremental success in securing help for those who lost out and, crucially, legislation has been passed to ensure that never again will people be deprived of the pensions that they have paid into all their working lives.
The Government have said at every stage of the debate so far that they have gone as far as they can go, and subsequently, they have gone further. So I am very interested to hear what the Minister said about the fact that they are prepared to go further again. There is no question but that a substantial amount of public money has been allocated to the financial assistance scheme—something that has not been adequately recognised in the debate or in general over the past five years.
The Conservative party said before the last election that it would not commit any further public money than had been committed already to the financial assistance scheme. I wonder whether I can take from that that the Conservatives would not have come up with the £8 billion that is now in the pension pot?
Mike Penning: I stood on a manifesto, defending the Dexion workers, in which we said that we would compensate them from the unclaimed assets. That was in our manifesto, and that is what we stood on.
Sandra Osborne: I can remember Tory Front Benchers telling me on the Floor of the House that they would not commit any further public money, and that was the position that they took.
Those who lost their pensions, whether before or after 5 April 2005, are all innocent victims, and they all deserve to be treated equally. I have always thought it quite ironic that those who campaigned for justice in this matter will receive less as things stand at the moment than the beneficiaries of their campaign in the form of the Pension Protection Fund. Therefore, I believe that there should be equity. According to the trade unions, they have evidence that the £8 billion may in any case be enough to settle that issue. I do not know whether that is the case, but, obviously, it would be welcome. The Government have set up a review and said that they are open to suggestions. In my Westminster Hall debate more than five years ago, I made both these suggestions: pooling the assets of pension funds and holding the private sector to account.
I will conclude by referring to the private sector. Prudential’s venture capital company was the majority shareholder in UEF. I have met the chief executive on several occasions to call for the company’s help, but that has not been forthcoming. I wish the Government all the luck in the world in trying to get the private sector to contribute towards the financial assistance scheme.
