The campaign for justice for Equitable Life pensioners
Sharon with Equitable petitioners outside the UK Offices of the European Parliament
Equitable Life, the world's oldest mutual insurer, faced near-collapse in 2000 after making promises it could not afford to keep. At the time, Sharon was standing for the Westminster Parliamentary seat of Aylesbury, where Equitable had its HQ and she immediately started to campaign for help for those affected.
When she became an MEP in 2005, she continued to work to bring justice to these people who had faced dramatic cuts in the pension payouts due to the problems at Equitable. Around a million people were affected by this scandal.
In particular, Sharon helped Equitable petitioners to obtain an independent inquiry in the European Parliament to investigate Equitable's activities. The inquiry found significant failings in the Labour government's implementation of EU laws designed to protect customers from what happened at Equitable Life.
Campaigning with the Equitable Members Action Group (EMAG), Sharon saw at firsthand the struggle faced by those who have been denied compensation. EMAG esitmates that 15 Equitable pensioners die every day, many in distressing poverty.
Queen's Speech brought new hope
The saga of Equitable's victims moved forward when an Equitable Life Bill was announced during the first Queen's speech of the new coalition government in 2010.
Sharon was delighted that the new government was trying to bring an end to this gross injustice. However, the payouts when they were announced proved not to be all that had been hoped for.
The fight to get a better deal for those who lost out in the scandal continues. In March 2011 Equitable announced that it would give 400,000
For more information on EMAG's campaign visit http://www.emag.org.uk/
Please note that views expressed on the EMAG site are those of their organisation and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sharon!