Labour’s moment: will they support will of the people?
It wasn’t just Brexit in the Queen’s Speech. There were other measures that will change people’s lives
You may think that this government is somehow running out of puff. You may think that we are so consumed by Brexit that we are no longer able to get on with the everyday business of government or law-making. You could not be more wrong. Look at this Queen’s Speech and you see a government forging ahead with the work of improving our lives – from tackling injustices in mental healthcare to improving the quality of our air, from bringing down the cost of energy to the most colossal infrastructure programme for a century.
We may have a difficult parliamentary environment. We have to accept with humility that the election result was not what we wanted. But with undimmed energy and enthusiasm, Theresa May and her team are determined to get on with the job. We will push on with Bills that will give the UK a new lead in electric cars, in space flight and satellite development; we will help the victims of domestic violence. We will set up a Commission for Countering Extremism, and we will deal with new problems – problems that must be nipped in the bud.
Let me give you an example of an injustice that is unfairly affecting millions of families across this country. Back in March, I got a letter from the head of the Association of British Travel Agents. It made my eyes almost start from their sockets.
He was writing to me in my capacity as Foreign Secretary, and he had some woeful observations about the behaviour of a minority – but a significant minority – of British tourists. It seemed that in the past few years there had arisen a rampant culture of claiming insurance at the end of the holiday: not for theft, or for loss of valuables – but for an upset stomach.
If the figures were to be believed, the digestive systems of the British people had become the most delicate in the world. We have all at some time been laid low by a dodgy prawn; but these numbers seemed outlandish. British travel agents were reporting a 434 per cent increase in claims for food poisoning since 2013, and one big tour operator said the numbers had gone up by 700 per cent.
This was most odd, said the chief executive of the Association of British Travel Agents, since it was widely acknowledged that in the past 20 years there had been significant improvements in the quality and hygiene of the food in the resorts; there had been no corresponding increase in reported illness at the time; and of all the great tourist nations of the world it seemed that the British had suddenly become uniquely vulnerable.
So Mark Tanzer of ABTA laid it on the line. These claims were very largely fraudulent, he said; and subsequent researches have shown that he is right. The phenomenon has been widely publicised, and some tabloid newspapers have dubbed Britain the “fake sick man of Europe”. It seems that people have been simply sending off a form and claiming up to £5,000 a time in insurance, and all with no evidence more compelling than a receipt from a chemist to show that they have bought some local carminative or anti-stomach-bug medicine.
This behaviour is infuriating for the hotels and tour operators, who feel that they have had to put up with unwarranted slurs on their kitchens. It is deeply unfair on those who genuinely do fall ill – since they may now find themselves the objects of unjustified suspicion. And of course it is unfair on the vast majority of British holidaymakers whose costs – as Mr Tanzer pointed out – will inevitably rise to meet the burden of all these bogus claims. Some Spanish companies have even threatened not to accept British custom, so epidemic has been the scam.
And I wish that this kind of behaviour were confined to the tourist industry. Have you recently tried to insure your children to drive? Have you looked at the cost of motor insurance? It is out of control – indeed it is one of the reasons we are seeing a reduction in the proportion of young people who are going to the trouble and expense of getting a driving licence, normally regarded as a key component of their employability.
Again, there is a simple explanation for this increase in costs: and that is the rash of low-value claims for compensation – and especially for whiplash. As Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, has pointed out, there has been a 50 per cent increase in whiplash claims in the past 10 years – even though road safety has greatly improved in that period, and the number of accidents has declined.
What is happening to the British people, you may ask, that we are engaged in such epic unscrupulousness? Has something begun to warp our moral fibre? I don’t think so – not at all. Remember that the fraudsters are still a small minority. The problem is the Claims Management Companies – who bombard you with exhortations to sue. In both cases, tourist tummy and whiplash, they have worked out that people could get compensation without medical evidence; and the numbers have accordingly soared.
So that is why this Queen’s Speech – along with so many other things – is tackling a problem that affects virtually every motorist and every holidaymaker in the country. We are introducing a fixed level of compensation for whiplash, and ending the practice of settling claims with no medical evidence. We are cracking down on the Claims Management Companies by putting their regulation in the hands of the Financial Conduct Authority. In the case of whiplash alone we reckon we can cut the average cost of motor insurance by £35.
The question for Labour and other opposition parties, is: will they support these measures, and others that would save ordinary people even more money? Will they vote for this Government’s plans to cut the unnecessary fees that tenants are currently forced to pay letting agents? Will they strangle the infrastructure and other investments that will grow this economy?
Above all, will they try to frustrate the will of the people, and block the Brexit Bills? The Tories got 56 more seats than Labour. We will get on and govern the country with drive and determination, and these measures deserve support.