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There is a need for pensions policy discussions that centre on the bigger picture of which of these two principles leads to pensions which are cheaper for society as a whole. Most of the discussion has followed the line that DB pensions are expensive because the employers don't like bearing the risk. But all the evidence is that individualistic DC pensions are far more expensive because they reject risk sharing. If a pension is a secure income for life then we know from many studies that the cheapest way of doing that is by schemes based on the sharing of investment risk, sharing of longevity risk through annuitisation and pooled investment charges. The Labour Party should be saying that DB schemes are socially beneficial because they are based on collective principles and DC schemes for many people unaffordable because they are based on neoliberal individualism.