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This a monstrous injustice the origins of which didn't happen under 
Labour but Gordon Brown has stalled and stalled and wriggled to do 
anything rather than bring justice to those investors in Equitable 
Life, who had a government guarantee on their savings which has not 
been honoured, despite the Ombudsman finding in their favour.

   This has dragged so long that many have died waiting  and 
presumably Brown is happy to drag it out further and let more die!

The most recent event in this disgraceful tale is set out below  - 
more delay - greater betrayal.

The man has no honour left.  Or since he must be getting the 'hang' 
of German by now "Der Mann is ganz Ehrelos"

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CONSERVATIVE HOME Blog 12.12.08
Gordon Brown breaks his promise on Equitable Life

Something else emerged from yesterday's Business Questions.

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Theresa May asked about 
Equitable Life:
"I note that the Leader of the House announced a statement on 
Equitable Life in the first week back after Christmas. Last week, the 
Prime Minister promised to the House a statement on Equitable Life 
before Christmas. So will the Prime Minister come to the House to 
explain why his Chancellor is not doing what the Prime Minister 
promised the House he would do? Given that the Leader of the House, 
on numerous occasions, told us that the statement would be given in 
autumn, perhaps she can explain why this is the first time in living 
history that autumn has extended into January?"

Harriet Harman replied:
"The right hon. Lady mentioned Equitable Life. I acknowledge that we 
said that the statement would be ready in the autumn, but it is 
important to note that the issue has its roots in problems that 
started in the 1980s. In the summer, there was a substantial report 
from the ombudsman that needed consideration. We are talking about 
important issues, and if the Treasury needs to dot the i's and cross 
the t's, it should do so. Surely it is more important that the report 
is properly considered before it is brought to the House than for us 
to have an artificial timetable. The statement will be made in January."

It was more than moderately cheeky for Ms Harman to describe the 
Government's own (abandoned) timetable as "artificial".

Pensions expert Stephen Yeo commented to ConservativeHome:
"The delay is even worse than it seems at first. The Ombudsman's 
report took an unprecedented 4 years because the Treasury decided to 
submit 500 pages of prevarication in 'evidence'.  Although the report 
was published in July, the Government would have had a draft in their 
possession for some months prior to then.  If so minded they could 
have responded straight away, but they said they would do so 'in the 
Autumn'. Yesterday we learnt that meant January!"

Other Conservative MPs were also far from impressed. Congleton MP Ann 
Winterton led the charge:

"The autumn has long since gone but
. "Now is the winter of our discontent"
because the Prime Minister reneged on a solemn commitment to the 
House, which was given in the debate on the Queen's Speech last week, 
that we would have an Equitable Life statement before Christmas. What 
are we to say to our constituents, most of whom are elderly and many 
of whom live on modest means? Indeed, some have already died. When 
will the Government make a statement to ensure that those people are 
able to live better in the future, because they have been seriously 
disadvantaged through no fault of their own?

Ms Harman: No one thinks that this is not a serious issue, and it is 
because it is a serious and important matter that we wanted to ensure 
that the Treasury has the time necessary to consider it. On the 
question of what the hon. Lady should tell her constituents, she 
should say that the statement will be in January."

Andrew Mackay, who is a senior adviser to David Cameron, weighed in too:
"I am always anxious to give the Leader of the House the benefit of 
the doubt, so I accept that she was acting in good faith when she 
told the House in July, when the ombudsman's report was published, 
that there would be a statement on Equitable Life in the autumn. I am 
less able to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt about 
what he told the House during the debate on the Address:
. "There will be a statement before the House rises at Christmas. I 
can say to the hon. Gentleman that that will be done. There will be a 
statement".-[ Official Report, 3 December 2008; Vol. 485, c. 38.]
That was only a week ago. What has happened in that week? Has the 
Prime Minister saved the world but lost his grip here?

Ms Harman: What was said then was that there was an expectation -
[Interruption.] Well, it stands to reason, does it not, that if the 
statement had been ready, it would have been made, so what was being 
talked about was a statement that was under preparation? The 
preparation has taken a bit longer than anticipated, but I think that 
Members are going way beyond things if they are asserting that there 
has somehow been some calculation about the timing and that Ministers 
are not acting in good faith. All we have been trying to do is give a 
reasonable estimate of when the statement might be ready, and the 
latest estimate is that we hope it will be ready on the week of the 
15th."