MP praises Dexion pensioners' campaign in Parliament
7th January 2008
Mike Penning congratulates the Dexion pensioners on the successful outcome of their campaign and calls on the Government to recognise the campaigners' achievement.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning congratulated the pensions specialist, Dr Ros Altmann and the Dexion campaigners led by Peter and Jackie Humphrey on the successful outcome of their long and sustained campaign.
In December the Government announced a deal to restore 90% of the value of pensions to people who lost their pensions when their companies went bust. The ruling affects 140,000 people across the country including Hemel’s Dexion workers.
Mike called on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Peter Hain, to recognise the work of Ros Altmann and the campaigners and called on him to offer them his congratulations.
He asked the Secretary of State: “Does the Secretary of State agree that, one of the reasons that the compensation has been paid…to the 140,000 pensioners who had their pensions stolen was the work of Ros Altmann who campaigned for five years with, in my constituency, the teams of former Dexion workers led by Peter and Jackie Humphrey?”
“Without five years of action, the compensation that the pensioners deserve would not have happened. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in congratulating Ros Altmann and others?”
Speaking afterwards, Mike said: “The Dexion pensioners have been put through hell on this – which was totally unnecessary – but thankfully natural justice has prevailed in the end. It is just a pity that the Government couldn’t have made this decision five years ago.”
Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): Does the Secretary of State agree that, one of the reasons that the compensation has been paid, after five years, to the 140,000 pensioners who had their pensions stolen was the work of Ros Altmann, who campaigned for five years with, in my constituency, the teams of former Dexion workers led by Peter and Jackie Humphrey? Without five years of action, the compensation that the pensioners deserve would not have happened. Will the right hon. Gentleman join me in congratulating Ros Altmann and others?
Mr. Hain: I happily do so. Ros Altmann played an important part, as did the hon. Gentleman’s two constituents, whom I have met. The Dexion workers, like the others, deserve justice. I know that they would have liked it earlier, but we had Andrew Young’s report, which identified £1.7 billion of residual assets. We needed to ensure that we acted on that and maximised the best return to protect the pensioners and provide good value for taxpayers’ money. We have now achieved the settlement for which the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, joined by so many others, rightly campaigned.
