I will be extremely brief and confine my remarks to Flood Re. With all due respect to the hon. Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), if this is the best that three and a half years of intense negotiations can produce, I am not sure that congratulations are in order. As I understand it, the scheme will cover only a fraction of the 6 million homes that are deemed to be at flood risk.
I want to ask the Minister three questions. First, if it is true that there is a 60% chance that the scheme will fall into deficit, and if, as Professor Diacon, who was asked to review it, said, it relies on luck in the first place, what are the contingency plans if the scheme falls apart? Secondly, what will be the trigger for the Government to intervene on the insurance companies if insurance premiums for everyone else, who will not be covered by the scheme, continue to rise to such a point that they cannot afford them?
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There is not a lot of mass flooding in my constituency, but in one particular area, on the River Rea near Dogpool lane in Selly Park, homes have been flooded. It was the same problem that everyone will be familiar with—people were washed out and their belongings destroyed. In my question following today’s statement, I mentioned a constituent whose insurance premium has gone up by 50% in 12 months. If insurance premiums continue to rise, what will be the trigger for doing something about it? If there is no trigger, this will all have been a waste of time.
Finally, if Flood Re is not going to cover small and micro-businesses, what is the Government’s plan for them? Are we simply going to stand aside and see them washed away?