The Law Society has demanded that solicitors’ voices are heard when MPs come to hear evidence on whiplash.

The House of Commons transport select committee will invite witnesses to appear in parliament later this year having today closed the call for evidence.

The committee wants to establish whether the government is correct in describing the UK as the ‘whiplash capital of the world’ and what proportion of claims are exaggerated or fabricated.

The Law Society has written to committee chair Louise Ellman asking for the chance to give oral evidence on behalf of road traffic accidents victims and to put forward the views of solicitors.

‘This is a debate in which all too often the perspective of only a single side – the insurers – is heard,’ Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff wrote.

‘As I am sure you will agree, such a one-sided debate has the potential to distort the facts leading to, in the Society’s view, ill-considered and disproportionate policy-making.’

In written evidence to the committee’s inquiry, the Society has asserted that government proposals to increase the small-claims limit in personal injury cases largely stem from arguments made by the insurance lobby.

But there are question marks over what the committee can add to the debate, with the Ministry of Justice already having consulted on increasing the small-claims court threshold from £1,000 to £5,000.

The department is likely to come to a decision by this summer, which is likely to precede any transport committee report on the same issue.