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Equitable Life

I must declare an interest as a small policyholder with Equitable Life, although my policy was nowhere near as large as that of many of my constituents who have been affected. Is not part of the significance of the ombudsman's report that it stated that regulatory failure was only part of the cause, and that another part was the appalling mismanagement of Equitable Life, to which the hon. Gentleman has referred? In identifying regulatory failure as a separate matter, she provided the Government with an avenue for what would be reasonable compensation. The Government's refusal to implement her report is appalling.