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Equitable Life

Indeed. I thank my hon. Friend for his helpful intervention. There is a lesson for us all to learn. In future, there will have to be much more state involvement in provision for old age and much more certainty about what we do with our money. A state scheme would not only provide more security for our savings but would be much more efficient, with guaranteed returns at the end of the day. It would not be stock market related, or dependent on stock markets or interest rates, but would offer defined benefits for all who saved with it, which would in time be the majority of the population. As I have said many times in recent weeks and months, the way to solve the cost problems facing the Government not only in relation to Equitable Life but in general is to start collecting the vast amounts of tax that the Treasury fails to collect. The gap between what the Government could receive and what they actually receive in tax is said to be at least £100 billion a year—this week, I saw the figure of £175 billion—which is a staggering amount of money. If we collected just a quarter of that money, we would solve all our problems very quickly. Most of that money would be paid by wealthy companies and wealthy people, not by ordinary people, and it would be enormously beneficial to the economy and to Government resources. Now that I have made my point about regulation and have used up my time, I shall sit down, but I am pleased to have had this opportunity to speak.