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'To Mr Carrod who thinks Mr Osborn is right to take this decision. He has obviously never been injured in an accident and had no income for a few months. '

But surely the general damages - if the injured can prove loss of earnings -would take the claim way over £5k if that were the case?

I read the announcements as having 2 effects:
PI claims under £5k are now treated like any other sub-£5k claim in the county courts - they fall under the small claims regime. As a matter of principle you would need to make the case that small PI claims are so sui generis that they need to continue to be dealt with under a separate regime from all other civil claims - that isn't necessarily self-evident - although the portal does seem more likely to be cost effective than clogging the system up with LIPs.

Secondly, you don't get any general 'pain and suffering' award for 'minor' soft tissue injuries (however that is defined). I think that is more troubling from a general perspective and may be more open to challenge - I think fixing a small sum as a standard award for such cases would be more acceptable and still have many of the same benefits.