Equitable Life

Paul Howell Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Paul Howell (Sedgefield) (Con) [V]]

I am pleased to have the opportunity to support the motion by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and I applaud the efforts of the Equitable Members Action Group to date. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate.

One of the most rewarding parts of being a local MP is the ability to bring local issues that affect our constituents to the attention of Ministers. On a daily basis, I get to speak to members of the public, such as Harry Cruddace from School Aycliffe, who ask us, as their representatives, to support them. Harry represents the many other victims in Sedgefield and across the UK. While running his own successful business, he made financial decisions he thought would enable him to retire properly, including a pension fund with Equitable Life. As a result of its inability to deliver on its promises for Harry, he was forced to work for an extra six years to the age of 71. That took away a number of his best retirement years that he had planned to spend with his wife.

In 2010, Harry, along with about 1 million Equitable Life policyholders, was promised a fair and transparent compensation. Given the parliamentary ombudsman’s 2008 conclusion that the victims’ losses were directly attributable to a decade of regulatory maladministration, this was a welcome and much-needed Government intervention.

I am not going to reiterate all the details that have been so eloquently communicated by other Members, but the victims of Equitable Life’s inability to deliver on its promises included police officers, nurses and small business owners who were trying to invest prudently in a happy retirement with what was at the time a respected household name. I ask the Government to consider extending the financial support to fulfil the 2010 commitment to a fair compensation to Equitable Life victims, ensuring that pensioners have security in their retirement—something that the Chancellor reiterated on 6 October was a Government priority. The benefits of this would be twofold. First, as a Conservative, I believe that those who made the decision to invest in their and their family’s future, such as Harry, should benefit from that decision. Receiving the remaining 78% of compensation would afford many of the victims the ability to have the comfortable retirement that they had planned for decades ago. Secondly, Equitable Life policyholders receiving this compensation package could act as a much needed stimulus to the country. These are people who will spend this money when they get it; it is very unlikely to end up in savings. It can therefore stimulate part of the economic recovery by helping our small businesses, pubs and restaurants.

I ask that the Government commit urgently to the inquiries being proposed, but also that they put thought into how funds can be made forthcoming to the victims of this scandal as urgently as possible to give some relief to the people of Sedgefield and across the country who have been victims of this scandal.