MR. SPEAKER KING'S RETIREMENT (No. 2) (Hansard, 1 March 1971)

§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Patrick Jenkin)

I beg to move, That the annual sum to be granted to Her Majesty out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom for the payment of an annuity to Una King, if she survives the Right Hon. Horace Maybray King, lately Speaker of the House of Commons, be £2,500. The effect of the Motion—if the House is kind enough to accept it—will be to raise the maximum of Mrs. King's pension from one-third to one half of her husband's pension and enable the Committee to debate Amendment No. 3 to Mr. Speaker King's Retirement Bill.

The Government have had regard to expressions of opinion from hon. Members on both sides of the House—both in the debate on the earlier Money Resolution and in the Second Reading debate—and have decided that this is a change which it is appropriate to make in all the circumstances. It brings the widow of Mr. Speaker into line with widows of hon. Members, as to the proportion of the husbands' pension to which they be- 1356 come entitled on their husbands' death, although in the case of Mr. Speaker's widow, at a somewhat higher level than in the case of a widow of a Member of Parliament.

This goes some way beyond the present public service practice, but I do not regard that as unfair in present circumstances. Not only is the holder of your office, Mr. Speaker, in a very special position, but it would be wrong to assume that there will never be any change in the generality of public service practice. I believe that this Motion will commend itself to the whole House.

§ Mr. John Boyd-Carpenter (Kingston-upon-Thames)

I thank my hon. Friend for introducing this Motion. As he said, representations were made to him by hon. Members on both sides of the House at earlier stages of the Bill to the effect that the provision contained in the Bill—to give only one-third of your predecessor's pension Mr. Speaker, to Mrs. King, were she to survive him—was inadequate and out of line with modern pension provisions. It is a satisfactory working of the parliamentary process when Ministers listen to what is said in the House, pay attention to it, are persuaded by it, and introduce an Amendment to deal with it.

My hon. Friend has acted not only in a very good parliamentary way but also very wisely. The original provision of one-third follows earlier precedents, but thinking on the subject of provision for widows has moved forward in recent years and it is now thought that one half or even two-thirds is a more appropriate provision. I am obliged to my hon. Friend, as I am sure are all hon. Members who have made representations to him.