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Equitable Life

I apologise to the hon. Member for Leeds, North-East (Mr. Hamilton) for not being here at the start of the debate, but I was in a Delegated Legislation Committee at the time. Have constituents approached my hon. Friend to tell him about the double whammy that they face? One constituent, who lives in a terraced house close to my constituency office—she is certainly not a fat cat with lots of assets—faces a double whammy. She is a pensioner who has been denied the Equitable Life investment that she prudently saved for all her life, but she also cares for her two elderly parents, one of whom has Alzheimer's and the other of whom has Parkinson's. She can no longer get attendance allowance, because she is a pensioner. She is being hit on every side. All she ever did was prudently save for her old age, but she has been denied her investment.