Equitable Life (Payments) Bill

Baroness Morgan of Cotes Excerpts

Tuesday 14th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Timms]

I will make a little more progress, and then I will gladly give way again.

The ombudsman spotted a contradiction, and wrote to every member in July making that clear. She said:

“In the light of the new Government’s commitment to implement that recommendation… the approach embodied in the Chadwick report has thus been overtaken by events and cannot provide a basis for the implementation of my recommendation.”

In opposition, the Minister and his right hon. Friends could promise the earth, but now that they are in government their promises are worthless.

[Nicky Morgan (Loughborough) (Con)]

The right hon. Gentleman has not yet mentioned the impact on the public purse. He does talk, however, about how incandescent former policyholders are. They are incandescent about the fact that compensation has been delayed for so long and that the last Government left the economy in such a mess, and as a result the ombudsman has had to say that compensation will have to be limited because of the effect on the public purse. How will Opposition Members explain that to policyholders?

[Stephen Timms]

If the hon. Lady had suggested that the words she has just uttered should have been inserted into the pledge before it was signed by so many Members on the Government Benches she would be on stronger ground, but she and many others gave the impression they were signing up to it in full. Indeed, they did sign the pledge as it stood, without those caveats, so it is no good their now coming back and saying, “We didn’t quite mean what EMAG thought we meant when we signed that pledge.” Therefore, this is the situation: the ombudsman says her proposal and Chadwick are irreconcilable, EMAG backs the ombudsman, and the Minister said before the election that is what he would deliver, but now he says the opposite.