Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (LD)

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her explanation and for our meeting with her and the Pensions Minister yesterday. Small movements are better than none, but she will know from that conversation that, as regards the so-called reserve power, there is still a long way to go, and the House should be clear about the issues that remain. There are four in particular. First is the principle of mandation, even if it is a reserve power to bring in mandation. The primacy of trustee fiduciary duty must be made clear. A structure that subordinates that duty is not acceptable, which means no mandation. Secondly, it is wholly unacceptable that the bar for trustees to decline to invest in the assets that the Government prefer is set higher than the fiduciary duty threshold, requiring trustees to prove material harm—which is a very high standard and probably impossible to do. What reward would the pension saver receive for taking that additional risk? The potential for higher returns alone is not sufficient, but that goes if mandation goes. Thirdly, the Mansion House Accord has fiduciary duty and consumer duty embedded within it. If this clause is truly a back-up to that accord, it cannot set those duties aside and replace them with something else. Fourthly, this whole part of the Bill, as the Minister has explained, is predicated upon an allegation of market failure. Were that not the case, I would maintain that competition law would come into play for policy co-ordination. So what to do? The only logical conclusion is that mandation must go. That does not stop a nudge and monitoring approach—but no threatening reserve power or regulations, because that is coercive, like the debt collector who says they will break your arm, even if not right now. Supporting the Mansion House Accord should surely reference the enablers and caveats that are the fiduciary duty and consumer duty, as well as the government assistance with assets where appropriate. As this whole project is, in effect, a competition law dispensation to permit co-ordinated policy action, it should be appropriately time limited—for example, to the end of the current Parliament, because that would also safeguard from what future Governments might do, which has been raised more than once. After that, the entire structure should fall away. If it needs replacing, that would be up to the subsequent Government. Of course, as I have expressed all the way through, there must be no discrimination between investment vehicles, which we know is a Treasury plant, not an industry request, and an example embedded in the heart of the Bill of how highly inappropriate things can be imposed. It will come as no surprise that I will ask noble Lords once again to insist on our deletion and to disagree with the government amendment. I beg to move.