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Debate on bill on Tuesday, 14 September 2010, in the House of Commons, led by Mark Hoban. The answering member was Stephen Timms.

Equitable Life (Payments) Bill

Equitable Life (Payments) Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed on question. Programme motion and money resolution agreed on questions.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
515 c758-850 
Session
2010-12
Department
Treasury
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Fiona Bruce | 515 c783-5 (Link to this contribution) It is an honour to make my maiden speech as Member of Parliament for Congleton. I recognise that I h...
Speaker | 515 c779-80 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind hon. Members that Mr Speaker has set a time limit of eight minutes for Back-Bench sp...
Show all contributions (240)
Mike Weir | 515 c847 (Link to this contribution) When the Minister was introducing the Bill, I asked him whether the details of the scheme would be d...
Justine Greening | 515 c848-50 (Link to this contribution) We will make sure that when the document from the independent commission is published and the final ...
Gareth Thomas | 515 c844-5 (Link to this contribution) I say gently to the hon. Gentleman that rather than looking back, we need to look forward. The hon. ...
Lord Tyrie | 515 c844 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman say how much more than Chadwick proposed that policyholders would have had a...
Frank Dobson | 515 c847 (Link to this contribution) I gave the Minister's colleague the opportunity to answer this question: will the Government proceed...
Justine Greening | 515 c845-7 (Link to this contribution) In closing this important debate, I want to thank all Members who have participated. This has been a...
Gareth Thomas | 515 c844 (Link to this contribution) I recognise the hon. Gentleman's difficulty. He signed the pledge—he confirmed that in his speech—bu...
Charlie Elphicke | 515 c843 (Link to this contribution) Speaking of breathtaking cynicism, it ill behoves the shadow Minister to offer thruppence and critic...
Gareth Thomas | 515 c844 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman should have been listening to my earlier remarks, but I recognise th...
Andrew Percy | 515 c844 (Link to this contribution) While we are in the spirit of apology, will the hon. Gentleman, from that Dispatch Box, apologise to...
Justine Greening | 515 c847 (Link to this contribution) I know that my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary has met representatives of EMAG over the past few...
Gareth Thomas | 515 c841-3 (Link to this contribution) This has been a most interesting debate with very important contributions from many hon. Members. Th...
Sarah Wollaston | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman feel that the emptiness of the Opposition Benches represents a lack of...
Stephen Timms | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill made clear before the election that he th...
Julian Lewis | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) Does the shadow Minister feel that people who made dodgy investments in Icelandic banks are more wor...
Stephen Timms | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) I wish the hon. Lady success. I believe that she is one of those who signed the pledge, and I am sur...
Stephen Timms | 515 c774 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill set out before the election the process t...
Mark Hoban | 515 c774 (Link to this contribution) I just want to make sure that Government Members heard the right hon. Gentleman correctly, as I thin...
Rob Wilson | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) May I remind the right hon. Gentleman what the former Chief Secretary said when she was in charge of...
Stephen Timms | 515 c774-5 (Link to this contribution) Let me make a little progress and then I will gladly give way again. I want to go back over the eve...
Stephen Timms | 515 c774 (Link to this contribution) Our policy is to proceed in the way we set out before the election—on the basis of what we promised ...
Stephen Timms | 515 c775 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure which investors the hon. Gentleman is thinking of, but I think it essential for us now...
Stephen Timms | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) The ombudsman has said that the Chadwick approach is no longer relevant because the Government have ...
Margot James | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) The ombudsman has found much to welcome in the Bill and this Government's proposals, such as the ind...
Stephen Timms | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) Sir John has, in fact, reported. He did so in July. That was rather later than he was going to repor...
Mike Weir | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to the right hon. Gentleman's comments. As I understand it, the Labour ...
Stephen Timms | 515 c776 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady had suggested that the words she has just uttered should have been inserted into th...
Baroness Morgan of Cotes | 515 c776 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has not yet mentioned the impact on the public purse. He does talk, however...
Stephen Timms | 515 c776 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little more progress, and then I will gladly give way again. The ombudsman spotted a ...
Stephen Timms | 515 c776 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make a little headway before I give way again. I have spoken about the ombudsman's pr...
Stephen Timms | 515 c776 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is what I would describe as incandescence on the part of t...
Toby Perkins | 515 c775-6 (Link to this contribution) Many former Equitable Life policyholders who have spoken to me unquestionably felt that both previou...
Stephen Timms | 515 c778 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely what happened. I just wish to tell the House the main amendments that we will tab...
Jim Cunningham | 515 c778 (Link to this contribution) Is not the fact of the matter that Members who are now in government knew what the economic situatio...
Stephen Timms | 515 c778 (Link to this contribution) Our intention, as I have said on a number of occasions, would have been to proceed on the basis that...
Sajid Javid | 515 c778 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful that the right hon. Gentleman started his speech by saying that his party would not op...
David Burrowes | 515 c779 (Link to this contribution) For the benefit of my constituents, I want to establish where the Opposition sit on this matter. I u...
Stephen Timms | 515 c778 (Link to this contribution) I am going to make a little more progress. Secondly, as we heard in an intervention that I welcome,...
Stephen Timms | 515 c779 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's difficulty is that a very large number of EMAG members feel that, under the bas...
Andrew Love | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) If I were Brian Pomeroy or a member of the independent commission listening to today's debate I woul...
Stephen Timms | 515 c777 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it does. Of course it is absolutely right that the needs of taxpayers must be considered, but G...
Frank Dobson | 515 c782-3 (Link to this contribution) No, I do not want to. We must get on. As my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Stephen Timm...
Andrew Murrison | 515 c782 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Frank Dobson | 515 c781-2 (Link to this contribution) I support the Bill because it will enable Equitable Life policyholders to start getting paid. Those ...
Alan Reid | 515 c780-1 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Bill because it gives the Treasury statutory authority to make payments to Equitable L...
Stephen Timms | 515 c779 (Link to this contribution) I just want to run through the amendments that we want to table. Our third amendment will relate to ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c763 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. Speed is of the essence, and we want to make sure that ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c764 (Link to this contribution) The appeals mechanism is not the Bill. However, I took on board the point that hon. Gentleman made d...
Mark Hoban | 515 c763 (Link to this contribution) If I can answer one intervention before I take the next, it would be helpful to all hon. Members. W...
Albert Owen | 515 c763-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman may recall that when he made his statement to the House I asked him about an appe...
Mark Lazarowicz | 515 c763 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that I have spoken up for Equitable Life members represented on both sides ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c763 (Link to this contribution) I am not familiar with the policies held by every single Equitable Life policyholder. There are 1 mi...
Andrea Leadsom | 515 c763 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the Government on getting to this issue so quickly, in line with the promise th...
Gareth Thomas | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) As the Financial Secretary has just said, and as the explanatory memorandum makes clear, under the B...
Mark Hoban | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) The Bill provides for matters within the remit of the Treasury. My understanding is that the Departm...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the swift action that the Financial Secretary has taken, which puts the actions of the pre...
Mark Hoban | 515 c765-6 (Link to this contribution) I will have discussions about parliamentary scrutiny with the Leader of the House. Indeed, the Deput...
Daniel Byles | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Financial Secretary for his generosity in giving way on this important topic. W...
Mark Hoban | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) That is an important point, but we also need to consider other factors such as the general state of ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) If I may continue a little more about the Bill, I will take more interventions shortly. The Bill al...
Mark Hoban | 515 c764 (Link to this contribution) I would like to make a little more progress. I have been very generous in taking interventions from ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) Yes. Although we encouraged people to make representations by early September, I and my officials wi...
Robert Smith | 515 c765 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the fact that the Bill places no restraint on the level of compensation. I wish to reinfor...
Edward Timpson | 515 c768 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned the work of the actuary and the advice given to Sir John Chadwick to formul...
Mark Hoban | 515 c767-8 (Link to this contribution) I want to make progress because I am conscious that there is an eight-minute limit on Back Benchers'...
Mark Hoban | 515 c767 (Link to this contribution) That is why we are keen to ensure that we have a scheme that is simple, swift and transparent. That ...
Sajid Javid | 515 c767 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend is as shocked as I am that, in five months, this Government have achie...
Mark Hoban | 515 c767 (Link to this contribution) I shall come to that in a minute, but the Bill simply gives the Treasury the powers to make the paym...
Mark Hoban | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) It is a bit rich for Labour Back Benchers to complain, when the Labour Government had a chance to re...
Mike Weir | 515 c767 (Link to this contribution) We cannot object to anything in the Bill, but the detail on quantum is not in it. Does the Minister ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) I discussed that idea, but I received a strong representation from Equitable Life advising against i...
Toby Perkins | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister acknowledge that the broad range of issues that he now says he will take into cons...
Charlie Elphicke | 515 c766 (Link to this contribution) I understand my hon. Friend's desire to get full and final closure, but the consensus at a packed pu...
Mel Stride | 515 c769 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend was talking about the delays in the response to the ombudsman's report in April 2008....
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 515 c769-70 (Link to this contribution) May I congratulate my hon. Friend on the progress he has made, given the complexities he alluded to ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c769 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and we have tried to bring to this matter a time scale and a sense of purpose and pace in re...
Mark Hoban | 515 c768 (Link to this contribution) It goes back to what the previous Government were prepared to accept. Sir John's report is based on ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 515 c768-9 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Secretary has just mentioned 1992, so it is clear that this issue goes back not just t...
Mark Hoban | 515 c769 (Link to this contribution) The ombudsman's letter is clear. She said that she welcomed much of the Government's approach, inclu...
Lord Tyrie | 515 c769 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the six-month delay to which he alludes is just the tip of the icebe...
Mark Hoban | 515 c768 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point about transparency. The actuarial advice gives a clear demon...
Stephen Timms | 515 c768 (Link to this contribution) The ombudsman states in her letter to every hon. Member that because the Government have fully accep...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) Is this not a bit rich, coming from the right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a great deal of respec...
Stephen Timms | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) If I remember correctly, there was a statement in January 2009 in response to the ombudsman's report...
Nadhim Zahawi | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) I note that the shadow Minister opened his speech by saying that he had not spoken before on the sub...
Mark Hoban | 515 c770-1 (Link to this contribution) I want to press on. On the progress that has been made, I should say that the letter produced by To...
Stephen Timms | 515 c771 (Link to this contribution) We very much welcome the fact that the Bill is before the House, and we shall not oppose it today. W...
Mark Hoban | 515 c770 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give that commitment yet, and we will not be able to do so until we see the scheme proposed...
Anne Begg | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) The previous Government made reparations for a number of historical injustices during their time in ...
Stephen Timms | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. This has been a difficult task, and that is why it has taken such a long ti...
Andrew Love | 515 c771-2 (Link to this contribution) My constituent Mr Peter Waller—not a Labour supporter—wrote to me following the statement made to th...
Stephen Timms | 515 c772 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. EMAG today is very angry indeed. When the Prime Minister, the De...
Mark Hoban | 515 c774 (Link to this contribution) May I assume from what the right hon. Gentleman says that the Opposition policy is to pursue the out...
Stephen Timms | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) I will come to that in a few moments. There are some serious problems with the complexity of the pro...
Lord Watts | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Bill is a smokescreen designed to hide a U-turn, and that e...
Stephen Timms | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that my hon. Friend is absolutely right. We got some process today, and that is it.
Jesse Norman | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) Does the House share my sense of bewilderment that the right hon. Gentleman should be asking us to a...
Stephen Timms | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) My advice to the hon. Gentleman and the great majority of his hon. Friends is turn his fire on those...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) The Public Administration Committee will have to smooth these troubled waters, and I want to be clea...
Stephen Timms | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) No, the position we are in now is that there are two quite different ways forward. One was recommend...
Charlie Elphicke | 515 c773 (Link to this contribution) As a member of the Select Committee on Public Administration, I know that we will take evidence from...
Lord Evans of Rainow | 515 c829-30 (Link to this contribution) First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her maiden speech. As...
Steve Baker | 515 c828-9 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) has been listening to the same d...
Gordon Henderson | 515 c834-5 (Link to this contribution) Several hon. Members have suggested today that the Equitable Life scandal—and a scandal it was—is co...
Marcus Jones | 515 c833-4 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to be brief to assist my hon. Friends who wish to speak. I have received more constituen...
Dominic Raab | 515 c836 (Link to this contribution) Like my hon. Friend, I welcome the transparency and the finality provided by the Bill. However, like...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford | 515 c835-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak in this debate. At the outset, I would like to pay tr...
Claire O'Neill | 515 c831 (Link to this contribution) I understand the pressure of time, but I wish to come in on that point. All of us are here for the d...
James Morris | 515 c832-3 (Link to this contribution) Like other hon. Members, I welcome the Government's recent announcement and their timetable. Second ...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 515 c831-2 (Link to this contribution) That is a useful contribution. I was about to restate a point made by my hon. Friend the Member for ...
Guy Opperman | 515 c837 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that, in these circumstances, an oral debate and a staggered system of int...
Charlie Elphicke | 515 c837 (Link to this contribution) I, too, would like to congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her exce...
Andrea Leadsom | 515 c841 (Link to this contribution) I am very conscious that I have only two minutes in which to speak. Let me begin by adding to the vo...
Julian Sturdy | 515 c840-1 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for calling me, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will try to be brief. The sorry tale of the Equitabl...
Speaker | 515 c840 (Link to this contribution) Order. The winding-up speeches will begin at 9.30. I ask the two remaining speakers to divide the re...
Bob Blackman | 515 c839-40 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. There is a second set of policyholders within Equitable...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 515 c839 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that at a time when we want to encourage people to become savers again, it...
Bob Blackman | 515 c838-9 (Link to this contribution) I should also like to place on record my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton ...
Charlie Elphicke | 515 c837-8 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. More than that, I urge Ministers to consider carefully a mor...
Cathy Jamieson | 515 c800 (Link to this contribution) It is no use the hon. Gentleman making interventions from a sedentary position when I am genuinely t...
Chris Skidmore | 515 c799 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady explain the previous Government's position and whether she agreed with it? As far...
Cathy Jamieson | 515 c799 (Link to this contribution) I would point out gently to the hon. Gentleman that that is exactly the kind of intervention that pe...
Robin Walker | 515 c800-1 (Link to this contribution) I add my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her excellent m...
Jim Shannon | 515 c801-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to say some words in favour of the Bill, and I congr...
Cathy Jamieson | 515 c798-9 (Link to this contribution) I add my congratulations to the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her maiden speech. I know...
Priti Patel | 515 c797-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not, if my hon. Friend does not mind. The 1.5 million policyholders affected and their famil...
Priti Patel | 515 c797 (Link to this contribution) I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) for her outstanding maiden sp...
Bob Stewart | 515 c804 (Link to this contribution) When we gave that pledge, we gave our word. It is difficult for all of us who signed the pledge not ...
Andrew Bingham | 515 c804-5 (Link to this contribution) I do agree with that; indeed, that is the point that I am making. We signed the pledge and we are he...
Yasmin Qureshi | 515 c805-6 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on making her maiden speech. As a fellow ...
Yasmin Qureshi | 515 c806 (Link to this contribution) I have actually finished, but the hon. Gentleman may intervene.
Sammy Wilson | 515 c802 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that it is the duty of the Government to take this matter forward, especi...
Heather Wheeler | 515 c803 (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman is in the same position as I am. I have a family of constituents...
Jim Shannon | 515 c802-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend must have read my mind. The parliamentary ombudsman's report describes the Equitable ...
Andrew Bingham | 515 c804 (Link to this contribution) I am conscious that many Equitable Life policyholders will be watching this debate this evening. Con...
Jim Shannon | 515 c803-4 (Link to this contribution) Yes, it is replicated, right across the United Kingdom, for families, individuals and others. Indeed...
Gordon Banks | 515 c792-3 (Link to this contribution) I will also try to keep my remarks brief. First, I associate myself fully with the remarks of my ho...
Alun Cairns | 515 c793 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Fabian Hamilton | 515 c789-91 (Link to this contribution) Before I start, I have an apology to make to the House. Owing to a prior, long-standing commitment, ...
Stephen Lloyd | 515 c791-2 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her maiden speech. In the spirit...
Tracey Crouch | 515 c788-9 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend does not mind, I shall press on, as time is short. Those victims put their faith ...
Mike Weir | 515 c786-7 (Link to this contribution) The policyholders are entitled to due compensation, and I shall address that point in a moment. I r...
Tracey Crouch | 515 c788 (Link to this contribution) As requested, I shall keep my contribution short. First, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member fo...
Jonathan Edwards | 515 c785 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it is essential that the scheme rules out the Chadwick report's propo...
Mike Weir | 515 c785 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to follow the maiden speech of the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce). Ann Wintert...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick | 515 c796 (Link to this contribution) It would have been much better for the coalition Government to implement the ombudsman's recommendat...
Sammy Wilson | 515 c796 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady accept that although the coalition Government have been quick to introduce a Bill...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick | 515 c796-7 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman. That is exactly right, and it is the kernel of the l...
Speaker | 515 c794 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I say that a lot of Members wish to speak? If they try to...
Rehman Chishti | 515 c794-5 (Link to this contribution) Knowing that time is of the essence, I will apply the principle that brevity is a virtue and not a v...
Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick | 515 c795-6 (Link to this contribution) I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on making her maiden speech. She ha...
Alun Cairns | 515 c796 (Link to this contribution) I certainly accept the hon. Lady's criticisms of the previous Administration, but does she accept th...
Gordon Banks | 515 c793 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. Like other Members, I want the Government to have their moral hat on. Forgetting ab...
Gordon Banks | 515 c793-4 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. The situation has been a shock to my constituents and a disappointment to hon. Memb...
Alun Cairns | 515 c793 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Mowat | 515 c821-2 (Link to this contribution) Let me add my congratulations to my neighbour in Cheshire and in London, my hon. Friend the Member f...
George Freeman | 515 c820-1 (Link to this contribution) Let me add my name to the list of those congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fion...
Penny Mordaunt | 515 c816-7 (Link to this contribution) May I first offer my congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) on her...
Mel Stride | 515 c817-8 (Link to this contribution) Like many other Members who have spoken this evening, I welcome the Bill. It is timely—it has certai...
Iain Stewart | 515 c816 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a very powerful argument. One way in which we may be able to square this ci...
Stephen Metcalfe | 515 c816 (Link to this contribution) I accept that point—indeed, funnily enough, I was just about to make it. One way we could make this ...
Speaker | 515 c820 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Member for taking much less time than he could have done. Everybody can see how man...
Neil Parish | 515 c818 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for the powerful points that he is making. May I reinforce the fact that this...
Mel Stride | 515 c818-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for making a very important point, with which I entirely agree. I welcome the...
Speaker | 515 c827 (Link to this contribution) Order. I thank Members for getting their messages across while showing time discipline.
Tessa Munt | 515 c824-5 (Link to this contribution) In common with other Members, I have a number of people in my constituency who have sent me letters ...
Chris Williamson | 515 c825-6 (Link to this contribution) Like other hon. Members present, I have been lobbied by a considerable number of constituents. Let m...
Chris Williamson | 515 c826 (Link to this contribution) There is not time to give way as I want other Members to have an opportunity to speak. That is hard...
Anne Marie Morris | 515 c826-7 (Link to this contribution) I think I speak for Members on the Government Benches in refuting a number of statements made by the...
Guto Bebb | 515 c827 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to follow on from that point. A constituent of mine has argued tha...
Anne Marie Morris | 515 c827 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that charming intervention and most certainly agree. He makes a very good...
Peter Aldous | 515 c823 (Link to this contribution) Like most Members—I should probably say all Members—I have received many letters from constituents w...
Nia Griffith | 515 c808-9 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman had been here under the previous Government, and been a regular attender at bu...
Gavin Williamson | 515 c808 (Link to this contribution) It is incredibly interesting listening to the hon. Lady's speech, but surely she ought to hang her h...
Nia Griffith | 515 c808 (Link to this contribution) I would like to continue for a moment, because I want to explain what I have understood from the spe...
Gordon Birtwistle | 515 c808 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says that she is keen to see the payments made to the Equitable Life policyholders. Wi...
Nia Griffith | 515 c808 (Link to this contribution) What is important now is to move on and get those payments made. The worry is that these smokescreen...
Karen Lumley | 515 c806-7 (Link to this contribution) I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) for her maiden speech. ...
Nia Griffith | 515 c807-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to take part in the debate today, and I certainly want to support ...
Mel Stride | 515 c806 (Link to this contribution) I just wanted to say that it is my understanding that the ombudsman's report contains the recommenda...
Yasmin Qureshi | 515 c806 (Link to this contribution) The public finances may be taken into account, but it is my understanding that the Bill proposes to ...
Speaker | 515 c814 (Link to this contribution) Order. Hon. Members really must exercise some brevity. I want to ensure that all Members have an opp...
Mark Durkan | 515 c813-4 (Link to this contribution) When it was said in the Bible that the stone that the builders rejected had become the cornerstone, ...
Stephen Metcalfe | 515 c815 (Link to this contribution) I will do my very best to keep my speech brief, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is an indication of the depth...
Sheila Gilmore | 515 c811-2 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in the debate. As a new Member,...
Lord Barwell | 515 c812 (Link to this contribution) Did not the ombudsman recommend that the compensation scheme should take account of the state of the...
Sheila Gilmore | 515 c812-3 (Link to this contribution) I agree. The people who have come to see me have said much the same. They have spoken of the possibi...
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 515 c813 (Link to this contribution) There is not a lot to be said that has not been said already, so I will keep it brief. I support le...
David Rutley | 515 c809-10 (Link to this contribution) Thank you for giving me the chance to speak in this important debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. I, too, con...
Andrew Bridgen | 515 c810 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the majority of Members and the majority of the public out on the str...
David Rutley | 515 c810-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. It is vital for Ministers to take that into consideration a...
Mark Hoban | 515 c762 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to repeat myself, but the important point is to honour the pledge that we all made and...
Nadhim Zahawi | 515 c762 (Link to this contribution) As we have heard, many of us have signed the Equitable Members Action Group pledge. There is a wide ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c762 (Link to this contribution) Indeed; my hon. Friend makes an important point. I would like to say two things in response to her. ...
Esther McVey | 515 c762 (Link to this contribution) The fact that this matter has not been resolved for so long is an absolute disgrace, and I congratul...
Mark Hoban | 515 c762 (Link to this contribution) I would be delighted to appear in front of the Committee to give the Government's view. It is import...
Bernard Jenkin | 515 c761-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will know that the Public Administration Committee, which I now chair, issued in the ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) As I have tried to make clear, the decision about how much the taxpayer can afford will be taken in ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) The Minister, in his opening remarks, spoke of justice. Where does justice lie—at 10% of losses, 100...
Mark Hoban | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should really direct his anger at his own Front Benchers, who for years blocked t...
Brian H Donohoe | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for, at last, giving way. I have been a Member for some time and longer than he...
Mark Hoban | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr Donohoe).
Mark Hoban | 515 c761 (Link to this contribution) That is not a matter for me to decide; it is part of the spending review. However, I remind my right...
Mark Hoban | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) That is why, when the ombudsman published her report, we highlighted her recommendation that we need...
Philip Davies | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) Nobody is keener than me for the Government to save money and get the finances back on track, and I ...
David Davis | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) I take the noise from Opposition Members with a great pinch of salt, given the way in which they beh...
Mark Hoban | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my right hon. Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis)—[Interrupt...
Tim Farron | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) Without speculating what proportion of the £5 billion estimated losses will be compensated, does the...
Mark Hoban | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will recognise that the spending review is not simply a linear process. Some projects...
Mark Hoban | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies).
Mark Hoban | 515 c760 (Link to this contribution) A number of hon. Friends have made that point, and a number of representations made to me put an alt...
Mark Hoban | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) I draw my hon. Friend's attention to the ombudsman's report. She set out a process for assessing a r...
Mark Hoban | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) Before Opposition Members get excited—[Interruption.]
Julian Lewis | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is extremely generous in giving way a second time. Does he accept that whatever calcu...
Lord Redwood | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the swift move to put right the injustice about which the Opposition did nothing for more ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an important point. There are two decisions to be taken. One is on the lo...
Speaker | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) Order. Let the Minister develop the point. He will give way when he is ready. There is much competit...
Mark Hoban | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) Before Opposition Members get to their feet, they should think about what happened over the past dec...
Margot James | 515 c759-60 (Link to this contribution) Might the state of the public finances guide the Chancellor in his autumn statement on the public sp...
Lord Watts | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) Is not the point made by his right hon. and hon. Friends this: when on the Government Benches we acc...
Mark Hoban | 515 c759 (Link to this contribution) I should not have given way to the hon. Gentleman. He has identified the problem. The previous Gover...
Mark Hoban | 515 c758 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Government want to see justice for Equi...
Julian Lewis | 515 c758 (Link to this contribution) As one of the many people who signed the Equitable Life representatives' pledge before the election,...
Mark Hoban | 515 c758 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend was one of a number of colleagues on both sides of the House, including me, who signe...
Mark Hoban | 515 c758 (Link to this contribution) I sense that my hon. Friend wants to intervene again.
Speaker | 515 c780 (Link to this contribution) Mr Jenkin does not wish to speak, even though his name is on the list. In that case, I call Mr Alan ...
Mark Hoban | 515 c769 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and it was the work of my hon. Friend, who was characteristically modest in his intervention...
Stephen Timms | 515 c772-3 (Link to this contribution) I think I am right in saying that the hon. Gentleman was one of those who signed the pledge. He will...
Lord Hart of Tenby | 515 c830-1 (Link to this contribution) I think that several things have struck us during the course of this debate. First, we have heard ab...
Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford | 515 c836-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree with many of those points. It would be helpful if we could have some clarification about the...
Andrew Percy | 515 c819-20 (Link to this contribution) I know that this issue is important to so many Members, so I shall to keep my comments as brief as p...
Subjects
Compensation Financial services Insolvency Equitable Life Assurance Society Pensioners Payments Regulation Equitable Life Ex-gratia Payment Scheme Review Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Equitable Members Action Group
Legislation
Equitable Life (Payments) Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk