MP fights for Equitable victims

WARRINGTON South MP David Mowat has urged the Government to deliver on its pledge to the victims of Equitable Life scandal.
His remarks were made as the Equitable Life (Payments) Bill received its Second Reading in the Commons, when the Bill was passed without objection.
Hundreds of thousands of policyholders saw their pensions and investments slashed in order to fill a £1.5bn black hole in the company’s finances. The Parliamentary Ombudsman found the Government and the regulators guilty of ten counts of maladministration.
Mr Mowat heavily criticised the report of Sir John Chadwick, who was asked by the previous government to undertake an investigation. Sir John had recommended that a total compensation package of £400-£500m be made available, despite identifying relative losses of over £4bn.
Mr Mowat said: “Like everybody else, I support the Bill and I applaud our Front Benchers for moving so quickly to get this sorted out. I am disappointed, however, that we appear to be nailing our colours fairly firmly to the mast of Chadwick. The report is discredited…when reasonable assumptions are applied to the ombudsman’s starting point, it is very hard not to come up with a number that is a considerable multiple of the number that Chadwick talked about. I cannot get one that is much lower than about £2 billion.
“We must benchmark ourselves against what is right and against the expectations we raised when we were fighting the last election. It is not enough simply to do more than the party opposite.”