Equitable Life

Douglas Ross Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Ross (Moray) (Con) [V]]

It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate. I recognise the outstanding work that my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) has done not only in securing this debate but in his chairmanship of the APPG. Like every Member who has spoken so far, I have constituents who have been affected by this scandal. It is a scandal that people are fighting for what is rightly theirs. The Minister will not be immune to the fact that all contributors from across the parties are reiterating very similar points today, because the situation is affecting every part of the United Kingdom, and constituents are suffering as a result of it.

In advance of today’s debate, I was contacted by constituents who have been very affected. One wrote to me to say:

“My dear father put me into Equitable Life because in 1970 he thought they were the outstanding pensions company and with an honest reputation.”

The constituent went on to say:

“Luckily, he did not put all his eggs in one basket”—

they survived—

“but between himself and his wife they put in a substantial amount of money.”

He concluded by saying that he recalled

“clearly watching it all go wrong and being horrified about what happened. As a result his wife and he both joined EMAG to help fight our corner.”

That is a message I have heard time and time again.

Other hon. Members have suggested that the Government might be hoping that this will quietly go way—as people get older and sadly pass on, this issue will somehow be forgotten. It will not be. I have another constituent who has been working on this issue for his mother for the past 19 years since his father passed away. This issue affects people now and their families are not going to forget about it either.

As we have heard, there are opportunities in the motion today for two of Parliament’s Select Committees to work together to hold an inquiry. I hope they agree to do that and that we resolve some of the issues, but we need more than just another inquiry. The facts are the facts. They are very clear in this case. An inquiry would try to push the Government further, but I do not think that should be necessary. The previous coalition Government made it clear that an injustice had been served and that they were going to compensate people, but it is simply unacceptable that people have received just 22.4% of their claims. How would any of us feel if, at the end of the month, our salary was only 22.4% of what we expected it to be? These people put their faith and trust in a scheme, and, through no fault of their own, it has been devalued to such a level that the payments are simply unrecognisable in comparison with what they expected.

On behalf of my constituents here in Moray, and many people across Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom, I hope the Minister listens to what has been said in Parliament today. He knows I have corresponded with him on many occasions on behalf of local constituents. This issue is not going to go away. I know he is an excellent Minister who takes his job extremely seriously. I hope he will once again look at the issues put forward by hon. Members from across the House, so we can finally resolve this scandal and give closure to many of the people affected right across the United Kingdom.