Equitable Life (Payments) Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, and I cannot give him a precise answer. The figures that I have quoted are estimates I obtained from the Equitable Members Action Group, which has quite a lot of good people working for it—people who have been in the financial services industry. I go on their expertise. This is the best estimate that we can gain. The reality is that many of the annuitants are quite elderly. It is unlikely that in five years we will have the same number we have now. We already know, for example, that 15 policyholders throughout the entire spectrum of Equitable policyholders have died every single day since the disaster happened. We can therefore assume, unfortunately, that more will no longer be with us in the years to come, so the amount of money will be a diminishing sum. The best estimate that we can gain is £200 million, and that estimate comes from EMAG.