VICTIMS OF EQUITABLE LIFE COLLAPSE HAVE RIGHT TO COMPENSATION

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 20th Jul 2007

Fiona Hall has welcomed a European Parliamentary report authored by a Liberal Democrat MEP which calls on the British government to compensate Equitable Life customers whose policies were ruined by mismanagement.

The report highlights how British authorities failed to adequately implement European insurance supervision law so that policy holders were left unprotected and concludes that "the UK government is under an obligation to assume responsibility".

Fiona Hall said:

"The government had a responsibility to act but preferred to brush the matter under the carpet, allowing over one million people to suffer including many in the North East. Rather than turn a blind eye, Gordon Brown should reach into his long pockets for a change and pay up."