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Superannuation bill is read for a second time

8 September 2010

Opposition to the superannuation bill which seeks to cap redundancy payments for civil and public servants - was strong in Parliament yesterday (7 September).

MPs across the political divide paid tribute to the hard work and commitment of civil servants and in most contributions MPs made to the debate PCS was mentioned along with the lobbying the union’s members had undertaken in constituencies across the country over the summer.

John McDonnell MP, chair of our parliamentary group called the bill a ‘landmine bill’ as its contents were explosive and it was not needed. He went on to outline all of our concerns, including the government’s intention that the bill should proceed as a money bill as this would speed the legislative process and not allow for the required scrutiny. John, like many other Labour MPs and members of our parliamentary group, opposed the bill vociferously.

The opposition tabled a reasoned amendment which sought to oppose the bill’s second reading and present an alternative compensation scheme to the one the government is proposing in the bill. This amendment was introduced by the Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP and was debated, however it was defeated by 89 votes (329 MPs did not agree with the amendment and 240 MPs agreed with it).

As the amendment was not agreed Parliament then voted again on whether MPs agreed the bill should be read for a second time. There were 326 MPs who voted that the bill had been read a second time while 244 MPs made up of PCS supporters, with a few Liberal Democrat MPs, did not agree that the bill should be read a second time.

This means the bill will now formally enter the committee stage process where MPs on the committee, including John McDonnell MP, will scrutinise and debate the bill line by line before presenting the amended bill to MPs again in October.

While we lost both the vote on the reasoned amendment and the vote on the second reading of the bill it is clear that the government has pulled out all the stops to galvanise MPs to support this bill. Also, PCS members’ hard work in every constituency has been recognised by MPs and we need to keep up lobbying activities to encourage other MPs to oppose the bill when it comes back to Parliament in October.

Visit the Parliament website to view the full debate