Equitable Life

Andrew Love Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hoban]

As I said in my statement, we need to look carefully at Sir John’s report and the basis on which he calculated losses, and we will feed that into the spending review process. However, I take on board my hon. Friend’s points.

[Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)]

The hon. Gentleman’s failure to disclose the figure for the likely compensation today is unlikely to reassure Equitable pension holders. What they are looking for is a body to be set up that is both independent of the Treasury and totally transparent in delivering figures that they can trust. They are looking for him to expedite that so that payment will be made as soon as possible.

[Mr Hoban]

The hon. Gentleman should listen more carefully to statements given in the House. The independent commission is at arm’s length from the Treasury and will be responsible for designing the payment scheme. I would have thought his constituents would welcome that independence and transparency, which was not evident in the ideas put forward by his colleagues.