I don’t spend much time on Twitter but I do follow Torsten Bell. Lately he’s been tweeting a lot about Swansea where he is an MP but occasionally he makes an economic statement that sounds like him and not the Treasury. Here’s one after the good news for the Treasury they’ve had this week.

Ignore the professional gloomsters and doomsters.
– Borrowing ⬇️ (record surplus last month)
– Inflation (and interest rates) ⬇️
– UK fastest growing European G7 economy
– Retail sales up 4.5% over the year
There’s lots more to do but Britain’s economy is on the mend.

— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) February 20, 2026

It is Torsten Bell’s version of a Chancellor tweet

I  hope that this is the spirit that Bell brings to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks and that his message to the Pensions UK Conference is one of confidence in investing into UK this UK growth.

During this week I have seen complaints that the managers and engineers of our coal mines were getting the fruits of growth from a pension scheme 90% invested in equities.

I saw complaints that the Church of England would this April restore pension benefits when CoE scheme got into trouble  over property nearly 20 years ago. It too was criticised for being 70% invested in growth assets.

It’s been a week when I have had encouraging meetings with unions, employers, trustees and most of all with friends that I’ve been explaining CDC and how it can return us the pensions which we lost when DB closed and DC saving gave up on retirement income.

Of course I am pleased too to see the master trusts talking about flexing and then fixing people with annuities in later years. That is an alternative and better than pension freedom (pay lots of tax to have your pension pot swapped for a payment to HMRC to have a healthy bank account).

But back to Torsten

You have to go back a long way to find Torsten talk to the public about pensions. Here he is in the beginning of February. A lot of stuff (including some questionable stuff on housing) but nothing on pensions.

At a time when politics feels divisive, it’s important to hold onto what really matters.

👉 Half a million kids out of poverty
👉 Ground rent capped at £250
👉 Sick pay for low earners
👉 Zero hour contracts banned

Real answers. Real change. pic.twitter.com/UzQY9sALnv

— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) February 4, 2026

If I scroll back through our Pensions Minister’s tweets through 2025 there is nothing on social media about pensions.

I hope that this will change in two three weeks time when we are discussing pensions.

Torsten Bell would make a good Chancellor of the Exchequer one of these days, but right now he’s a pensions minister (a junior one at that). He’s got a Pension Schemes Bill  becoming an Act soon and he’s got a CDC scheme that needs a Code and authorisation of schemes.

I have had reasons to scold the Pensions Regulator this week for promoting itself in DB and DC but not mentioning CDC. I hope that our Pensions Minister will do a little better and promote the work that is being done and will see its fruit from 2027.

Right now the Pensions Minister sounds like he wants to be an MP and the Chancellor. He is the Pensions Minister – in case you’ve forgotten!

This blog is old enough to remember Torsten Bell when he was a campaigner for social justice

There will be cracks in care funding – that’s how the light gets in. https://t.co/J2oBXhoo6u this was how @TorstenBell was five years ago – we want you back!

— Henry Tapper (@henryhtapper) February 21, 2026