THE betrayal of 1.3m Equitable Life victim families continues.
Government debt to these hardworking taxpayers has not been honoured.
Once Britain’s oldest mutually-- owned insurance company, it came close to collapse in 2000 after decades of selling pension policies with guaranteed annuity rates it couldn’t afford to uphold.
To survive, it cut the payments to those who had already taken their annuities, some of whom lost out by as much as 50 per cent. A Government compensation scheme was set up for those who lost out following a major campaign by the 1.5 million victims.
There are 50,000 dead policyholders and 15 more each day.
Paying the remaining 78 per cent compensation would be self-funding as it would be spent now to create jobs, wealth and taxes and keep pensioners independent longer.
Fifteen years of campaigning, an Ombudsman’s Report and a Judicial Review have failed to persuade our democratically elected MPs to honour the debt.
This Conservative-led Government has lost the trust of those who built it.
The ballot box will restore some justice as the 3,000 Equitable Life pensioners resident in Oxfordshire will soon demonstrate.
TIMOTHY OATES St Peter’s Road, Abingdon
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