Before the end of the last parliament – I handed in a petition from local people who had been caught up in the Equitable Life mess. Instead of putting the petition in the sack that hangs on the back of the Speaker’s Chair – the petitioners had asked specifically that I present the petition in Parliament. To do this – you have to pre-arrange with the petitions office so to do in advance – and then after debate finishes (at 10pm) and before the adjournment debate commences – you get to read out the prayer in the chamber and then present the petition.
There were nearly fifty signatories to the one I presented for Hornsey & Wood Green. No doubt there were other victims locally – and no doubt victims throughout every constituency in the country. After years of waiting on Labour’s promise which was never honoured – the Coalition Government announced that it has introduced a Bill to compensate Equitable Life policyholders.
Commenting, my colleague Stephen Williams, MP and Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Treasury Policy Committee said:
“The Labour Government had 10 years to help the those who had their lives ruined by the collapse of Equitable Life and did nothing.
“In just 10 weeks the Coalition Government has taken real action to ensure that those who saw their pensions and life savings hit hard get the compensation they deserve.
“Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for proper compensation for Equitable Life policyholders and committed to it in our election manifesto. This announcement is further proof of our influence in Government.”
Lynne Featherstone 
This sounds really impressive stuff, I dont think you should compare yourselves to Labour anymore Lynne if you feel you are doing well just say that
Are you going to hold a publice meeting?
It’s a bit of a 2 way idea, you know, us to you to us?
Rather than just write another blog and not respond- which if I use my maths, is pretty much a ‘1 way’ of communicating.
Not very good for an MP is it now?
Yes, let’s have a show of hands. I want Lynne to hold a public meeting. She can tell us how fabby she is! Anyone else think that this is a good idea.
A quite unbelievable blog even by the standards set before this one.
The LibDems have ensured justice for people caught by the iniquities of a large financial institution and aren’t we great?
I know you missed it all Lynne but the whole country has been ****** by large financial institutions and what are you involved in doing about it? Well basically as pointed out previously almost to the point of boredom you are actually ******* the people that didn’t do it.
It’s an equitable life Lynne.
I’ve noticed that you only respond to blogs that give you positive feedback on your chosen subject matter. I thought that the point of these blogs was to enable you to canvass the views and opinions of your constituents, and to address and respond to any concerns that they may have. Lynne, criticism is good, it prevents the development of an exaggerated ego and supresses misplaced feelings of superiority. Is your lack of response that you find other views merely academic?