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Equitable Life

I think that a fair ex gratia payment scheme will take account of what people have lost, but it is also right to take account of the wider circumstances, as we have set out. I recognise the hon. Gentleman's point about people's approach towards their investments and the regulatory framework. However, the circumstances that we faced when it came to making decisions about the Icelandic banks, and the very serious financial stability problems that we faced in the autumn, were unique; that was a set of events the like of which we have not seen for many generations, and it was right to respond to those in a different way. I do not think that that necessarily has wider implications for how we deal with societies or companies in normal times.