Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)

My Lords, I have come to listen as much as to contribute. I particularly look forward to the contributions from the next three speakers on my side of the House who, like me, will all be leaving on 8 July 2029, in my case after nine years of service in the House. Given that, in broad terms, I am in favour of having a retirement age with a term—if that would be longer—so that we can appoint older people to the House, I have no grounds for complaint. I congratulate the committee on its work. It fulfilled the terms of reference. I am also mindful of my party’s manifesto promise that there should be a retirement age. However, there is no doubt that what was proposed by my party and which the committee has put into form is age discrimination. We are not employees, so employment law clearly does not apply, but, using that as a parallel example, a retirement age now has to have a cause. It is quite reasonable for this debate to touch on this issue. What is the cause for having a retirement age? I know it was in the manifesto, but my experience of the House tells me that the size of the House is not a problem. On this, if nothing else, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord True. I believe that the size of the House is a resource that can be used productively. As the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, said, the real cause is that it is a proxy for incapacity. Incapacity does not work just with age, as many noble Lords in this House demonstrate. I think there is a real problem. It was in the manifesto but, in pushing this policy through, there is also a need to seize the public mood. Having to explain that we are doing this because it was in the manifesto is insufficient. I also agree with the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, not so much on his views on ties but on the self-regulatory nature of this proposal. It is a real problem which is downplayed in the report and will be downplayed in practice. Of course, if the party wants me to resign in accordance with these rules, I almost certainly will, but I would suffer an almost irresistible urge if I knew, when it got to 8 July 2029, that there was going to be an important pensions Bill in the following Session. I would find it very difficult not to push the limits in my case. More thought needs to be given to how this part of these proposals will be put into practice.