Animals Act 1971 (Amendment) Bill

The hon. Gentleman has hit the nail on the head. The insurance industry has not made an assessment that risks have increased; rather, it is starting to cherry-pick its customers. Frankly, the industry does not like small businesses, because it does not make any money out of them. Even if insurance premiums go up, they are still relatively trivial to the insurance industry. What is happening more generally—not just in the context of this debate—is that small businesses are finding it harder to get insurance because it is more trouble than it is worth for the industry to insure them. The industry therefore jacks up its premiums to achieve that objective. There is a general trend in the insurance industry, which the increases in premiums reflect. The increases are nothing to do with the Mirvahedy case, which the industry is using as an excuse. In the same way, the compensation culture argument is used as an excuse to jack up premiums, when we all know that there is no such thing as the compensation culture. There is a perception that it exists, but all the figures show that it does not. Indeed, all the figures show that the number of claims is decreasing. What we have seen is a different market approach from the insurers, who are looking at how they can insure people differently. The insurers are cherry-picking and looking for the good risks and the large businesses, from which they can make money, and they do not like small businesses.