Stride and Badenoch show no interest in pensions
Mel Stride as Shadow Chancellor and Kemi Badenoch Shadow Prime Minister made two speeches from what is still the Opposition to this Government this week.
Stride was head of Work and Pensions in Government, you wouldn’t guess it. He had nothing to say on pensions at a time of change. Badenoch is already struggling to keep her role, she could only focus on house ownership.
Neither engaged with income for those in later years. The Conservative trump card is that they would scrap stamp duty to make it easier to buy property and trade property owned.
Conservative policy for our future is based on making home ownership easier, not making pension saving or spending – better,
It is hard to think of any Tory spokesperson who can speak for its pension policy. Here are the Conservative DWP shadow ministers. Only one MP here, two members of the House of Lords. Have we heard anything from any of the three on the opposition’s position on a Bill the Labour Government is driving through?
The Work and Pension Committee has one Conservative MP on it
Danny Kruger, who has is on WPC as a Reform UK pension, once wrote speeches for David Cameron. Reform UK has held a press meeting with Richard Dice stating Reform UK’s pension policy. We have heard nothing from the Conservatives on its policy on any aspect of second tier pensions . Peter Bedford MP is a new name to me. that he’s on WPC as a Conservative does suggest he can be another Nigel Mills, but is there a shadow pension minister as we have had from McClymont, Rayner and Furniss? Lincoln Jopp knows a lot about pensions and is a Conservative Party – but is he trusted?
We are currently going through what a leading firm of British solicitors is calling a crossroads in pension policy but rather than discussing pensions in or outside the bubble of its conference, the Conservative party is ignoring pensions altogether, even at its Conference where everything should be open to discussion,
It may be that it has no one confident enough about their ability to discuss pensions since Guy Opperman lost his seat , to promote her or him to speak on pensions. Laura Trott, who was a feisty Pension Minister before being promoted into bigger job in the Treasury. She is still an MP, but not vocal on pensions. She is Shadow Education Minister.
This means that there is no voice from the House of Commons to question Torsten Bell’s Bill on Pension Schemes. There is no one to stick their hands up to represent the Conservative position on strategy (important for the Pension Commission II). There will no doubt be some noise from the House of Lords over the 2027 IHT changes to unspent pension pots and if November 2026 sees another attach on using pensions as wealth management, I’d expect to see more opposition from Conservatives.
When it comes to the importance of Pension Capital to our economy and our society, it is amazing that no one in opposition (apart from Reform UK) is making any noise. It is incredibly important to deploy long term capital in a way that works in this planet’s favour. I am pleased to read a report in the FT this morning confirming that pension funds are political in maintaining their action on climate.
Read this blog on the energy transition and on the invest ability Robert Gardner is creating for sustainability in nature. These are just examples of what is happening in pensions – changing society , the economy, the land we live in.
You can read what Simon Mundy published yesterday on this free link.
Undoubtedly Green Party will claim to represent the pensions industry in this, I can see nothing from the official opposition on a critically important matter. John Milne and Steve Darling may speak for the Liberals on pensions (I guess as they are on the WPC).
The sad truth is that the official opposition is making little or no contribution to the debate on either the deployment of pension funds at an investment level or to the debate of how pensions work for ordinary people. At least in the Commons. In the House of Lords we have important voices, Ros Altmann, Sharon Bowles and Bryn Davies, representing Conservative , Liberal and Labour respectively. Unsurprisingly there is no Reform UK voice in the Lords (yet).
If not talk of pensions what is being said by the opposition in the Commons?
The nearest we get to “pensions” is benefits which Conservatives want to cut, thereby reducing the public debt. Mel Stride says that Conservatives continue to support the State Pension Triple Lock, Tom Tugendhat speaks at a fringe meeting and argues this has to change
Tom McPhail thinks this is fiscal prudence and he may have reason for saying he is now “conservative” in his thinking, but that has to be at a high level. I called him unique for arguing for the Conservatives, he did not disagree. The big Tory supporters I know in financial services seem more interested in what Dice and Farage are up to.
I can think of no one in the Conservative party who has shown any interest in private pensions. It makes for a feeble discussion on the Pension Schemes Bill (witness the General Commission waving through the Bill and no amendments carried from anyone but the Government).
What a sad mess the Opposition is in , that it has nothing to say about pensions.
