Last June, shortly after my election, I wrote an article in the national press, saying that the real fear was that the Crisis in Equitable Life might be the first of many similar high-profile crises in the sector.

The reports of the Select Committee on the Crisis in Equitable Life and on split capital investment trusts demonstrate that.

One has only to look at the Crisis of Equitable Life to see the body blows that there have been to morale for pensioners and pension scheme members throughout the country.

She tried to attribute blame for the Equitable Life Crisis to the light-touch approach of the previous Conservative Government.

Other Members have also made a point with which I strongly agree: that the Equitable Life Crisis is part of a much more general crisis of confidence in savings and pensions.