Government rejects business insurance demands
Economic secretary John Healey has rejected demands in the Commons for government action to make affordable liability insurance available to businesses.
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He was pressed to provide temporary help for those facing huge premium rises by Workington Labour MP Tony Cunningham, who complained one firm operating a climbing wall would have to go out of business because a £1,600 a year premium had risen to £10,000.
And Somerset and Frome Liberal Democrat MP David Heath demanded action as a matter of urgency ‘because businesses across the country are having to cease trading because they simply cannot get the insurance that the law requires them to have’.
He suggested that in cases where the law requires insurance the government had a duty to act as insurer of last resort.
But Healey, who claimed the government ‘of course’ appreciated the problem, insisted: ‘It is not the government’s position to intervene in individual terms and conditions of insurance policies or in individual cases.’
He said the Treasury has been working with the Association of British Insurers to try to tackle the problem.