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Equitable Life

The hon. Lady speaks eloquently about the situation. I absolutely agree that these people are not rich—they are not fat cats and they have not salted away great quantities of money for their old age. They have simply done what they believed was right by making provision from their normal, average incomes when they were in work, so that they could support themselves when they were not in work. Sadly, through no fault of their own, they have sometimes found themselves trapped. One constituent wrote to me, saying:""We 'trapped' Annuitants have fared inexcusably badly, especially after assurances at the outset of Government surveillance. We couldn't leave, and did not have any options other Policy Holders had, such as only AVCs. We have also borne the brunt of losses with E.L., continuing through to Prudential, with no relief from the E.L. calculation system, and probable further reductions"." That is what people have been faced with. The point has already been made that we are talking about people who are in the later years of their lives. Many have been pensioners for seven, eight or more years and have found themselves in this nightmare at a time in their lives when they should be able to feel that they have got away from the stress of working life and careers. They should actually be enjoying some form of retirement, but they have not been able to do so. The hon. Lady's comment about her constituents who have been forced to move into a caravan displays exactly the problems that people now face. I do not wish to speak at great length. I simple wish to say that all of us come to the House because we are propelled in some way by a sense of justice, and I know absolutely that my hon. Friend the Minister also has that at the core of her political being. For far too many years, we have been meeting in this room to discuss this issue—indeed, I remember our first debate, which I attended with other hon. Members who are present today—and we have had subsequent debates on the Floor of the House. We have gone over so much of the same ground, but officialdom has prevaricated and tried to weave in and out of the complexities. I absolutely accept that the Government should not put themselves in a position where every failure by financial organisations becomes a matter for Ministers. Of course none of us would wish to see that. That would be to write a blank cheque to financial institutions and encourage them not to take care in their management and procedures.