Baroness Altmann (Con): My Lords, I shall speak particularly to the
pensions aspect of Amendment 37, and I draw the House’s attention
to my register of interests. I say to my noble friend on the Front
Bench that I understand the dilemma faced by the Government on this
issue. There are more than half a million pensioners around the
world who have frozen pensions. There has been a sustained and
impressive campaign by the International Consortium of British
Pensioners to try to persuade the...Request free trial
(Con): My
Lords, I shall speak particularly to the pensions aspect of
Amendment 37, and I draw the House’s attention to my register of
interests. I say to my noble friend on the Front Bench that I
understand the dilemma faced by the Government on this issue. There
are more than half a million pensioners around the world who have
frozen pensions. There has been a sustained and impressive campaign
by the International Consortium of British Pensioners to try to
persuade the Government to uprate the state pensions of people who
live in the 150 countries, of the 200 countries around the world,
in which there are not reciprocal arrangements to uprate state
pensions and therefore their pensions are frozen. So this issue
goes much wider, and I applaud the Government for at least agreeing
to uprate the pensions of those citizens who live in the EU,
regardless of reciprocation in the meantime. I would encourage my
noble friend, and the Government, to consider this in the context
of the overall uprating issues for people with frozen pensions
around the world. If you live in the US, Mauritius or Jamaica, your
British state pension is uprated; if you live in places such as
Canada, Australia, the Falkland Islands or Antigua, you do not
receive any pensions uprating...
