There is a Savings Crisis in this country.

I want to take issue with the fact that there is a Savings Crisis as opposed to a pensions crisis.

Today's statement simply fails to match the scale of the Crisis in the Savings of our country.

That is why Britain has a Savings Crisis.

The Conservative party has proposed a clear direction of travel that tackles the two problems at the heart of Our Savings Crisis.

From what we know, it is clear that, despite their good intentions, the Government have fallen prey to their characteristic habits of over-complexity and means-testing - ironically, the very factors that have caused such a mess in the welfare system to date, and have contributed to the Savings Crisis that the Bill seeks to address.

It is a shame that the scheme is over-complex and that it will extend means-testing because it is precisely those vices that have caused the current Crisis in Savings, which the Bill cannot address by itself.

We therefore have a market in which the following have come together: a dramatic increase in property prices at the same time as a low in equity performance; an ageing population at the same time as a Savings Crisis of £27 billion; and increased confidence in the housing market just when confidence in the stock market has dipped.

That is why, sadly, the Bill will not tackle the Savings Crisis facing our country.

But we do face a Savings Crisis and an urgent need for pension reform in a variety of respects not encompassed in this particular Bill.

Nor do I accept the argument put by the Leader of the Opposition when he replied to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor that there is a Savings Crisis.

If the Financial Secretary does not do that, when the Government's epitaph is finally written, the fact that they were asleep when this country faced a Massive Savings Crisis will be towards the top of their charge sheet.

The Crisis in Savings was thoroughly predictable.

It is worth establishing at the outset that the savings ratio is not in itself a reliable statement on the savings regime, nor does it provide a definition of whether there is a Savings Crisis.

I cannot contribute to a debate on finance, especially one that covers taxation of investment even in this technical way, without referring to what I consider to be the most important financial and economic issue facing the country: the Crisis in Savings, investments and pensions.

We all recognise that a Savings Crisis exists.

As the Secretary of State will be aware, the commission was appointed because of a Savings Crisis in this country.

Does the Secretary of State agree with the Institute of Chartered Accountants that the single most important cause of the Crisis in Savings was the decision that the Chancellor of the Exchequer took eight years ago to remove the tax relief on the dividends of pension funds?

Is not it indefensible that the Chancellor, who is the prime cause of the Savings Crisis, should now try to sabotage those who are trying to resolve the problem, which is largely of his making?

The Bill is a laudable effort, but significant reform was required, not just because of the Crisis in Savings for retirement but because of the other side of the balance sheet.

My noble friend Lady Hollis explained her case for this, and there is no doubt that we have a Crisis of Savings in this country.

The reason the Chancellor is being forced to address a growing Savings Crisis is that, as the OBR says, growth might slow down again when consumer savings run dry - and it predicts that savings will be depleted even more quickly after the Budget measures are factored in.