Equitable Life

Marco Longhi Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Marco Longhi (Dudley North) (Con) [V]]

When people work hard and invest in their retirement, we praise them for doing the right thing. In so doing, these people tend to make fewer demands on the state in later life because of their financial independence. A constituent of mine has lost a small fortune because of the Equitable Life scandal. He received back only 22% of the sums he had invested, which will clearly negatively impact on his retirement.

I have been invited by my local EMAG group in Dudley to speak this afternoon. I have listened to and considered their concerns and, of course, I wish to represent them and support them as best I can, without ignoring just how generous the Chancellor has been in supporting the country through covid. I know that there are many competing priorities for the Treasury and that our public services are critical to tackle this dreadful pandemic. I am sure that Ministers and the Chancellor have enormous sympathy for those who have lost out because of the Equitable Life scandal. I understand that the Equitable Life payment scheme closed to claims in 2015. Taking into consideration the hardship that innocent members have suffered, I would welcome the thoughts of Ministers as to whether any consideration could be given to reopening the challenge mechanism. I ask this in the full knowledge of the financial predicament that we find ourselves in as a result of the pandemic.

People have been wronged, and my plea is that, when circumstances allow, we revisit the situation with a view to helping people who have still lost out. It would be very helpful if we could revisit the calculation of the compensation payments made, as concerns have been raised by the Public Accounts Committee. Moving forward, it is also important that future commissions of this sort are clearer and more transparent in publishing the calculation comparators that guide compensation payments.