The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has criticised the new government for dropping a bill to implement damages reform.

The draft Civil Law Reform Bill, which included proposed changes to the law of damages, was absent from the Queen’s speech on Tuesday. APIL said that the bill had been the ‘only sign in years that the issue of damages for negligence was on the government’s radar’.

APIL has long campaigned for the government to implement the 1999 Law Commission recommendation to increase general damages by at least 50% – although the draft bill did not provide for such an increase. A consultation on the draft bill closed on 9 February.

‘The draft Civil Law Reform Bill had a lot of holes in it but it was, at least, a starting point for long overdue reform to the damages system in England and Wales,’ said APIL president Muiris Lyons (pictured). ‘It is bitterly disappointing that nothing will be done now until at least [the next parliamentary session in] November.’