Kirsty Blackman MP

I had two meetings yesterday that were encouraging. The first starting the morning with Kirsty Blackman MP for Aberdeen North and determined to return pensions to those who save them but do not get them.

She’d called me into Westminster to discuss how CDC could help and we spent an hour finding what she could do. She has moved from shadowing DWP to shadowing the Treasury but she’s kept the brief to follow through pensions. People like her are important going forward from a policy point of view.

Later I had a cheap lunch with Jon Millidge and Terry Pullinger. We discussed how 120,000 postal workers will continue to get a decent deal from CDC. Jon was Royal Mail company secretary, Terry negotiating on behalf of the members. Here were two people representing two groups of people important for putting policy into action.

What we do going forward must be grounded in good corporate governance by large private companies. I don’t think Royal Mail gets the credit it deserves for what it has done with CDC and I don’t think that corporates such as BP and Lloyds Register get the criticism they deserve for not honouring pensions from the past.

I hope that politicians are like Kirsty Blackmore  get on with good ideas. There are several in the House of Commons who are pushing in the right direction including our Pension Minister . I hope that they will turn their eyes on groups of pensioners who have been let down. There are more in the House of Lords. Good pensions governance starts at the top but gets implemented to protect scheme members.

Bryn Davies in the Cloisters built by Henry VIII