Prime minister pledges to 'look into' Arch Cru debacle

Prime minister David Cameron has said he will look to see if the government can do more to help those who have lost money in the Arch Cru debacle.

Answering a question today during Prime Minister's Question Time, the PM said he had been personally contacted by constituents on the issue.

Tom Greatrex MP asked Cameron: "Will the PM heed calls for the Government to launch an enquiry under section 14 of FSMA?"

To which Cameron replied: "Like many members of this House I have been contacted by constituents who lost money. I will look carefully at what [today's debate] says, and see if we can do more."

The debate Cameron referred to is a closed meeting between MPs - led by Greatrex - and the FSA today on the role of the regulator in the downfall of the funds, and the £54m deal it brokered between three of the main companies involved in its running.

Greatrex is part of an inner core of MPs who have been campaigning on behalf of constituents who invested and advised on Arch Cru. They want the Treasury to launch an independent inquiry into failings at the fund, which led to its suspension in March 2009.

In a statement Greatrex criticised the "dead hand of the Treasury" for so far blocking an investigation.

"David Cameron needs to personally order a full and wide-ranging government investigation into the collapse of Arch Cru.

"The dead hand of the Treasury has so far blocked any investigation into exactly what went wrong. It is time for the prime minister to step up and put himself firmly on the side of the victims."

He said the government must conduct a full investigation into the "sorry episode".

"Investors need to know exactly what went wrong, and why the failure wasn't spotted until it was too late if there is to be any chance of this not being repeated," he said.

"If lessons aren't learned this time around, there is the real danger that something like this could happen again in the future."