I am interested in the hon. Gentleman’s first point about occupations. We must be very clear that this situation is not confined to the traditional working class, although it is more likely to be prominent as they were more exposed to asbestos than anybody else. Anyone who has been exposed to asbestos is in danger of contracting mesothelioma. On the hon. Gentleman’s second point, he must recognise that there are 150 players in the insurance industry and it is only fair that they should have a trade association that represents them. When I recently looked through the ministerial meeting list, I noticed that although the ABI was meeting with Ministers it did so with the top four insurers by its side. There are representatives in such meetings of the individual insurers as well as the trade association.
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Let me go back to the question of whether the insurance industry will walk away from the Bill. I do not think that it will. It needs to be reminded that it will receive a £17 million taxpayer-funded gift to help smooth the running of the scheme for the first four years, followed by a £30 million loan. I think that that is rather ironic, given the fact that it will be part paid for by the victims through the recovery of benefits. The industry needs to be firmly reminded of that, not least because many people in this place could say what £47 million could be better spent on. We want to ensure that the mesothelioma victims get fair levels of compensation, but they will do so through Government-funded assistance to the insurance industry, which has been strongly criticised in the past for not doing enough.
Before the industry starts to cite pressures on finances because of flooding or economic circumstances—we can be sympathetic about some of the initial costs of the recent severe weather—it is important to remind it that the scheme has been long in the making. Risk analysis was done long before the Bill was introduced and reserves were allocated accordingly, which was a point made by the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green). That is what good companies do: they manage risk for others and for themselves.
Let me, if I may, make a party political point. We should remind the industry that since the coalition was formed it has had its corporate tax rate cut and its employee costs reduced, that steady growth in the economy has created stability, particularly for those on the FTSE, that share prices have increased and that thousands of small businesses have been created, all of which will require some form of employers’ liability insurance. Business is good for the insurance industry at the moment.
I will defend the industry for many things, but, at a time when business is growing and returns on investments are being maximised, to threaten to walk away from a scheme providing victims with compensation that they should have been able to receive through the civil procedures but cannot, through no fault of their own—a scheme that will be funded through £47 million of Government money—is utterly outrageous. I am absolutely certain that that decision would come back to haunt them later and, based on other Members’ contributions today and in the Bill’s earlier stages, would have far more punishing consequences than that proposed in the amendment.
I will press my amendment to a vote this afternoon. I had hoped that I would receive the backing of the Government but, regardless of the outcome, I urge the Minister in this House and the noble Lord Freud to return to the issue of increasing compensation for victims. If it remains at 75%, the question will not be over and could be returned to in the future. However, with cross-party consensus on 80%, not only would it be harder to increase compensation levels down the road and in the future, but it would be a welcome and worthwhile compromise for politicians, support groups and those most affected by this dreadful disease, the mesothelioma victims themselves.