Civil Service Pensions
Debate between Calum Miller and Nick Thomas-Symonds(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Nick Thomas-Symonds
It is precisely because of that concern that I am looking to come back to the House in very short order to look at a range of options for this matter.
Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)
I declare an interest as a former civil servant and a future civil service pensioner. Many of my constituents are angry about this situation, like Gary, who waited more than six months and has now received a pension that is wrong, or the widower who has not received anything yet. I am glad that the Minister is angry, but let me ask him this: if a senior civil servant had been responsible for this scheme, would he not have sacked them? What is he doing to ensure that the chief executive, who has told him so many lies, loses their job?
UK-EU Summit
Debate between Calum Miller and Nick Thomas-Symonds(1 year, 2 months ago)
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Nick Thomas-Symonds
First of all, there is absolutely no compromise on the core principles of our defence, which we have had since NATO was founded in 1949. Far from any weakening, we are producing the opposite. This would be the worst possible moment to fragment European defence. That is not what this Government are doing. I dismiss any suggestion of a European army in the way that I think the right hon. Gentleman means it. This is a crucial moment for our continent. It is about leadership and peace on our continent, and strengthening and complementing NATO—absolutely not weakening it in any sense. I hope he will take that reassurance.
I have to go back to the point about businesses, because businesses themselves are speaking out. Businesses such as Marks and Spencer have been up front about how real the challenges are. Its head of food said recently:
“paperwork takes hours to complete and demands detail as niche as the Latin name for the chicken used in our chicken tikka masala.”
It is not just M&S. All supermarkets have said the same, as recently reported in the Financial Times. Just yesterday, I was in Edinburgh hearing from businesses about the difficulties they face—difficulties that we could resolve with some ruthless pragmatism and a better deal.