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In July 2013 the Chair of APIL was reported in the LSG as saying: "The transport select committee has acknowledged that the government has, so far, largely been influenced by the insurance industry in its plans to tackle high motor premiums, and called for insurers to get their house in order. I couldn’t agree more."

In autumn 2015 there were several stories associating the proposed changes to the small claims limit and the abolition of whiplash claims with meetings senior government members were said to have had with the motor insurance industry. The proposed changes were announced by the government as likely to lead to a reduction in motor insurance premiums of about £50 a policy. On 25 January the LSG reported that the government admitted it had no means of ensuring that any savings arising from the changes would be passed to motorists through reduced premiums. It relied on the promises the insurers supposedly made in meetings with the government.

It may be a coincidence that the proposed changes were announced after a series of widely reported meetings between the government and insurers; on the balance of probabilities, and taking the stories (going back over two years) at face value, it is evident that the government was strongly influenced by insurers' representations in the reported meetings.

While I tend to cynicism over impact assessments, as others do, perhaps in this case the impact assessment will look at the proposals from a different perspective than the insurers', which from the news stories appears to have been the only perspective considered when the proposals were announced?

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