Speeches by Bell.

“We will continue to be responsive to a changing world, be responsible in the national interest and with the public finances, and take the necessary decisions to help families with the cost of living. That is this Government’s promise.”

“We have asked for an independent review, and then there will be the Secretary of State’s review. I do not want to pre-empt the independent review, for politeness reasons, and I do not want to pre-empt the Secretary of State’s review for legal reasons, seniority reasons and all the rest as well. But it is a very good qu…”

“I do not think we are going to use the power. I think the industry itself is saying that it is in savers’ interests for the UK pensions industry to look more similar to those in the rest of the world. They currently do not have a significant exposure to private assets. They think that for the same diversification reaso…”

“The decision to increase it was obviously taken by the last Government, and the acceleration of it was also put in place by the last Government, so you will have to ask them who they spoke to at the time. They did publish an impact assessment along with the 2014 Act, but it is not for me to talk about. There are other …”

“It is for the Lords. What I have always said to you is that there is only one purpose for this power. I know the Conservative party is enjoying deciding late in the day it does not support in its entirety a Bill it supported all the way through, but that is to do with the consistency of your own decision making. I have…”

“For the rise to 67 that is happening now? They absolutely have. That is why we are doing lots of the things we are doing in terms of supporting older workers in the labour market. Why is the Secretary of State coming to talk to you about how much focus we are putting on WorkWell, on Pathways to Work and Charlie Mayfiel…”

“I understand why the hon. Member is asking that. I would gently point out that the level of petrol prices today is lower than at the time of the election, when the Conservatives had a temporary 5p freeze and explicitly did not include continuing that freeze in their manifesto. I offer that by way of indication of where…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his second question, and his enthusiastic volume of questions today. The Government balance the needs of public services with tax revenues. I gently point out that Liberal Democrat Members come to the House day in, day out, and call for more spending—we have heard that happen today—but then …”

“The hon. Member’s phrasing of his question was very telling about the challenges we all face in our labour market, because while we have seen more jobs created over the last year, there is a longer-term challenge with youth unemployment. If we look at the last Government, we never saw youth employment rates recover to …”

“My hon. Friend and I have discussed these issues on many occasions, particularly as they are specific to his constituency and other coalfield communities. There are challenges, particularly with youth employment, which goes back to the last decade in particular, and we absolutely need to prioritise that. However, I wou…”

“I want to offer my condolences to the hon. Gentleman for the recent loss of his father. It is something we all have to face at some point in our lives, but it is a lot to deal with. All our thoughts are with him at this time. In answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question, no, there is no change in Government policy. Our v…”

“My hon. Friend has rightly been raising this issue for some time, predating the election. I will take the two parts of her question in turn. The impact of AI is something that is being looked at across countries—there is a unit inside Government looking at exactly that. More importantly, though, she mentions the crisis…”

“I think all of us recognise that our hospitality and retail sectors have had a difficult time in recent years. For retail, that goes back before the pandemic, with the growth of online shopping. The squeeze on energy costs in the outrun of the pandemic has squeezed how much people are spending on hospitality. Specifica…”

“The hon. Lady is right to talk about the long-term answer here, which is more domestic energy security. That is why we are getting on with building nuclear power—whether it is in Wylfa, Suffolk or Somerset. On her specific question, the Chancellor and Ministers have been very clear with the CMA that, particularly at ti…”

“Payments of both the basic pension and the new state pension will increase by 4.8% in April, in just a few weeks’ time, boosting pensioners’ incomes by up to £575 a year. The yearly amount of the full new state pension is projected to rise by about £2,100 over the current Parliament, reflecting this Government’s commit…”

“I am glad to hear that my hon. Friend is organising events to drive pension credit take-up, as he did last year. I know that Members on both sides of the House will be doing that throughout the year. On my hon. Friend’s question about the failure of Safe Hands, he is a powerful advocate for his constituents. He will kn…”

“The hon. Member will know that it is a long-standing Government policy that the uprating of pensions is prioritised for residents in the UK, not least because the uprating levels reflect the path of earnings and prices in the UK. She will know that that was the Government’s policy under the Liberal Democrat-Conservativ…”

“This Government have set out our policy. On the question of salary sacrifice, any responsible Government should look at the effectiveness of all tax reliefs. If salary sacrifice for pensions had not been reformed, the cost would have risen to £8 billion over the course of this Parliament. That is the cost of the entire…”

“Last week, the Office for Budget Responsibility set out its updated forecast for the UK economy, including for unemployment to peak this year before falling in each and every year thereafter. Longer-term problems for young people have been building in our labour market for far too long, with employment rates that are t…”

“I am glad that the hon. Member and I have had the chance to discuss this issue on a number of occasions, and, more importantly, that we had the chance to do so with his constituent Staff Sergeant Pauline Cole, who served our country and campaigned on behalf of other veterans. I know that she has sadly passed away since…”