Robin Swann

I want to pick up on the Chancellor’s comments in opening the debate, when he said that he wanted to continue moving the Bill in “the right direction” with a collegiate approach across the House. I intend to table an amendment to the Bill on one specific issue, which builds on the work of Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association. It relates to an ongoing campaign of mine to tackle the rising and disproportionate cause of car insurance costs across Northern Ireland. The amendment will seek to include claims management companies in Northern Ireland under the FCA regulations. As it stands, Northern Ireland remains the only part of the United Kingdom where claims management companies are not regulated by the FCA, due to the fact that the Northern Ireland Assembly was not sitting when the legislation was introduced in England, Scotland and Wales. With no room to legislate under the current timetable and an Assembly election coming in May—who knows what happens after May—I believe that the Bill provides the perfect vehicle for bringing forward the solution to what is a technicality on the support of claims management companies and car insurance users in Northern Ireland. Motorists across Northern Ireland continue to face disproportionately high premiums, placing severe financial pressure on our households and particularly on young drivers. Unregulated claims management companies actively pursue customers after collisions and can take anywhere between 15% and 30% of compensation payouts, which significantly inflates overall claims expenses. Those excessive costs then act as a major driver pushing up the cost of car cover for our drivers.