Local Euro MP: Double standards in cases of Northern Rock and Equitable Life

9.17.00am GMT Tue 2nd Dec 2008

Local Liberal Democrat Euro MP, Diana Wallis, author of the European Parliament's report on the Equitable Life disaster, has called the treatment of Equitable policyholders "outrageous", as a European Parliament committee discussed the latest developments in the Equitable Life affair. MEPs and the UK Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, all took the view that the British government should compensate policyholders who lost money due to the failure of the financial regulators - a major contributory factor to those losses.

Speaking at the meeting in Brussels Diana Wallis MEP, a Vice-President of the European Parliament, said:

"I see the hundreds of thousands of Equitable Life policyholders as victims of the same regulatory failure that came to the fore in the case of Northern Rock.

"The British government had stepped in swiftly to protect ordinary savers in that case and in the case of the Icelandic banks. So why do these first victims have to wait and wait and wait?"

The UK Parliamentary Ombudsman's report included ten findings of maladministration by the UK financial regulators. Ann Abraham also spoke of "injustice and a sense of outrage at a decade of regulatory failure" (indeed, her report is titled "Equitable Life: a decade of regulatory failure") and told MEPs of her two key recommendations: that the UK government "apologise" and "establish a compensation scheme in six months, which should complete its work in two years". Like the European Parliament inquiry, Ms Abraham also highlighted the European dimension of the case, saying EU life insurance directives were "part of the essential backdrop" for regulators and stressing that her findings applied not just to British policyholders but also to those outside the UK.

(Photo shows Diana Wallis with the UK Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, after yesterday's meeting in the European Parliament)