Sir:

James Moore calls it the blame game (27 March); in the European Parliament we are just saying: "We told you so."

At the beginning of June 2007 the Parliament finalised the report of its Committee of Inquiry into the Crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society. We noted: "There have been compelling accounts which indicate that the UK consistently applied over a substantial period . . . a light-touch regulatory policy." The committee went on to demand "the further strengthening of prudential supervisory and regulatory standards".

The detailed 350-page report was delivered to the UK government shortly thereafter and still awaits a full, substantial and reasoned response. Many of our findings have now been repeated and reinforced by the internal audit into the regulation of Northern Rock. Will the Government perhaps now take notice before we witness yet another UK regulatory failure where many individual investors face the loss of their life savings?

Diana Wallis MEP

(Liberal-Democrat, Yorkshire and the Humber), Rapporteur of the Committee of Inquiry into Equitable Life Assurance, European Parliament, Brussels

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-heathrow-terminal-5-802395.html