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1,000 general election candidates pledge Equitable Life compensation

More than 1,000 general election candidates across the UK have signed a pledge committing them to vote for proper Government compensation for victims who lost money with Equitable Life.

As of today, Campaigning group EMAG (Equitable Members Action Group) had obtained signed pledges from 420 Conservative candidates, 380 LibDem, 130 Labour and 90 from other parties.

The pledge reads: “I pledge to the voters of this constituency that if I am elected to Parliament at the next general election, I will support and vote for proper compensation for victims of the Equitable Life scandal and I will support and vote to set up a swift, simple, transparent and fair payment scheme – independent of government – as recommended by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.”

“We’ve been delighted with the massive cross-party support our pledge is attracting” said Paul Braithwaite of EMAG. “It is time that Parliament respected the recommendations of its own Ombudsman.”

EMAG has also been successful in achieving commitments to the compensation process being made independent of government in both the Conservatives and LibDem manifestos.

In April, EMAG withdrew from working with the Treasury’s ‘Chadwick process’ after the latest interim report from the former appeal court judge led the group to conclude that his work was just a front for what the group describes as a ‘Treasury charade which seeks to negate four years of genuinely independent work by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.’

“While the High Court judges were clear about the need to treat the Ombudsman’s report as a whole, the Treasury-hired actuaries are choosing only the bits they want to arrive at the figure the Treasury wants” said Braithwaite. “The sooner the general election sweeps away this mockery of a process, the better.”

Pledge results are published at http://www.emagregional.org.uk/pledgeresults

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