Kenneth Clarke is making the important problem of fraudulent whiplash claims unnecessarily complicated. The answer to the problem is not only staring the government in the face, it is positively jumping up and down and screaming.

The ban on referral fees will have a substantial impact, provided the unlawful activities highlighted recently are not allowed to continue under the guise of alternative business structures. The government should also ban cash and other inducements. The director of Argent Rehabilitation (part of the Parabis Group) has provided his solution to the problem, namely that accident victims should receive physiotherapy and no compensation rather than the cost of the physiotherapy and compensation. Well he would say that, wouldn’t he?

I read recently that Direct Line is valued at between £3bn and £5bn and Aviva at £8.7bn. The financial clout of these companies makes them one of the most powerful and effective lobbying groups in the land, and perhaps the effect can be seen in the different approach the government takes to the opposing sides in the debate.

For instance, insurers were recently invited to a cosy meeting with the prime minister at number 10. Meanwhile, not even junior minister Jonathan Djanogly kept his engagement at the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers conference, choosing instead to send a civil servant along in his place. Listening to only one side of the debate leads to bad policy.

At its core this is not just a battle for influence with the government but for the hearts and minds of the premium-paying public. The scale of the problem of insurance fraud and the manner by which it is fuelled mean that claimant lawyers who do not pay referral fees or offer unsustainable incentives will find it difficult to get their message across. For this reason, I say the Solicitors Regulation Authority is asleep at the wheel.

Although the problem of fraud in personal injury work is a serious issue, the solutions are simple and the government should introduce them with haste.

Richard Edwards, Solicitor-advocate, E. Rex Makin & Co, Liverpool