Speeches by Reynolds.

“The Department for Work and Pensions has deployed 500 additional staff to process pension credit applications as quickly as possible, and I encourage all pensioners who might be eligible to apply by 21 December. As the hon. Gentleman knows, that benefit can be backdated by three months, and can passport pensioners to o…”

“The Government did an equality analysis on the change, which was published in September. I recommend that the hon. Gentleman take a look at it. It was such a long question that I have forgotten what he asked. On application forms—”

“The hon. Gentleman is urging me to comment on the Budget, but he will have to wait until tomorrow.”

“The Chancellor launched the landmark pensions review in July, which I am leading and which is looking at measures to drive more UK pension investment into the UK economy, boosting growth but also improving pension savers’ outcomes. I know that there is interest in this agenda across the House.”

“We are not hiding the figures. If I had had the chance, I would have said that 455,000 pensioners are paying the higher rate of tax and that 39,300 are paying the additional rate. Many wealthy pensioners have said to me that they do not need the winter fuel payment—[Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman says that, bu…”

“More than 12 million pensioners will be protected by this Government’s commitment to the triple lock, with the new full state pension expected to increase by around £1,700 over the course of this Parliament. Pensioners also benefit from free eye test, free NHS prescriptions and free bus passes.”

“I welcome the hon. Lady to her place. I reassure her that we are writing to all pensioners—I do not know where she got that misinformation from—about the change in policy. For the first time, we are also writing to all pensioners in receipt of housing benefit to encourage them to claim for pension credit. We have also …”

“I am very pleased to say that there has been a 152% increase in the number of pensioners who are applying for pension credit. That is good news, and is a result of the pension credit awareness campaign that we have been running since early September. We are putting in place all the resources we can to process claims as…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered the International Investment Summit. I am delighted to open this debate on the Government’s inaugural international investment summit, which we hosted at the Guildhall in London on Monday. Leaders of the world’s biggest companies, from Alphabet and BlackRock to Goldman Sach…”

“I wonder whether she would be tempted to tell us about her favourite pub in Bournemouth—or whether there are any bears around.”

“Perhaps my hon. Friend would like me to intervene?”

“The shadow Secretary of State is being generous to a point. I suggest kindly that in 2010 the outgoing Labour Government did not leave a £22 billion in-year hole in the public finances, as the Conservative Government bequeathed to us.”

“Indeed, I did. Business wants the Government to take a pragmatic approach, not an ideological approach, to our relationships with our main trading partners, and that is exactly what our new Government are doing. I am pleased to report that we are not resting on our laurels; far from it. On Sunday, the Business Secretar…”

“The shadow Secretary of State is demonstrating that from a sedentary position—it is the first time I have said that in a debate for some time. When we took over from the last Government, we recognised that there were issues we needed to address to improve the UK’s competitiveness. That is why we have already announced …”

“I will not have a cross-Chamber discussion with the hon. Gentleman. I am sure he will make a contribution to the debate. This Government are determined to increase the number of good, well-skilled jobs, to embrace the opportunities of technology and innovation, and to improve productivity across the country. At the int…”

“The agreements were reached in the lead-up to the summit and at the summit itself. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman joins us in congratulating the new Government on securing £63 billion of shovel-ready investment. I lost count of the number of Prime Ministers, Chancellors and Home Secretaries we had under his Governme…”

“We have been running a national campaign since September across a range of channels, including print and broadcast media, to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim, and we will continue to work with external partners, local authorities and devolved Governments to boost the take-up of pension c…”

“We were pleased to see 160 local authorities respond positively to our call for action. They are working with us to drive the boost in uptake of pension credit. Apart from the national campaign that we have been running, we will bring together the administration of housing benefit and pension credit in a way that the f…”

“The winter fuel payment was once described as the “largest benefit paid to pensioners…regardless of need, giving money to wealthier pensioners when working people on lower incomes do not get similar support.” Those are not my words, but the words of the Tories’ 2017 manifesto.”

“This is a decision that we neither wanted nor expected to make, but when we came into office there was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. There are mitigations in place. We have extended the household support fund and the hon. Gentleman’s council will receive an extra £3.9 million. We are increasing the s…”