PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament
PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament
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1539 Flood Insurance<br />
26 MARCH 2013<br />
Flood Insurance<br />
1540<br />
[Neil Parish]<br />
This is something I get quite excited about, because the<br />
people who get flooded should not have to put up<br />
with it.<br />
Other hon. Members have talked about ensuring that<br />
the money for the Bellwin scheme is available when, for<br />
example, roads are washed away by floods. Very often,<br />
the Government claim that Bellwin is available to local<br />
authorities, but when the latter claim it, the Government<br />
and the bureaucracy decide that many of the proposed<br />
schemes to cover flood damage are not eligible. That<br />
has to be dealt with.<br />
Sheryll Murray: Does my hon. Friend agree that the<br />
Bellwin scheme is only for immediate and emergency<br />
repairs, which it is often not possible for local authorities<br />
to carry out?<br />
Neil Parish: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If a<br />
road or bridge is washed away, the local authority might<br />
not be able to put it right immediately, but it will still<br />
have an effect on local people and local authority<br />
spend.<br />
I am keen for the Government to negotiate a system<br />
that gives people access to affordable flood insurance in<br />
high-risk areas; otherwise, we will end up putting a levy<br />
on all insurance payers, only to find that people cannot<br />
get genuinely affordable insurance. That is key. I will<br />
want to see in the proposal what the word “affordable”<br />
means, because what is affordable to one person is not<br />
affordable to another. I do not want the insurance<br />
companies gobbling up a great deal of money and then<br />
not offering affordable assurance to my constituents in<br />
villages and towns that have been flooded.<br />
4.23 pm<br />
Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op): Thank<br />
you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this<br />
important debate. It has been a good debate, and I<br />
congratulate the hon. Member for Esher and Walton<br />
(Mr Raab) on securing it and the Backbench Business<br />
Committee on giving it the importance it deserves.<br />
We have heard several fantastic speeches and many<br />
comments that were true for Members on both sides of<br />
the House. My hon. Friend the hon. Member for West<br />
Lancashire (Rosie Cooper) made a strong argument<br />
about the link between flood defences and flood insurance,<br />
while the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon<br />
(Nicola Blackwood) raised concerns on behalf of the<br />
1,627 of her constituents who will be particularly affected<br />
if flood insurance is not available. To her point about<br />
drainage, I would add that there are six provisions in the<br />
Flood and Water Management Act 2010 that have not<br />
yet been enacted and which I invite the Government to<br />
implement.<br />
My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull<br />
North (Diana Johnson), who is a dogged campaigner<br />
for her constituents, has made endless attempts to<br />
establish the true state of the negotiations and made a<br />
powerful argument, while the hon. Member for West<br />
Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Sir Robert Smith) talked<br />
about the devastating effects of flooding in his community<br />
and made a strong point about how the increasing<br />
unpredictability of recent flood events are causing us to<br />
ask fundamental questions about the nature of risk.<br />
My hon. Friend the Member for Wansbeck (Ian<br />
Lavery) made a powerful speech about his constituency<br />
and his constituents in Morpeth, where nearly 1,000<br />
properties were devastated in those terrible scenes. The<br />
hon. Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) mentioned<br />
the village of Leyburn and the problems faced by<br />
residents there. He rightly asked a question that I will<br />
go on to ask: would it not be terrible if those constituents<br />
came together to manage their flood risk but were let<br />
down by the Government and the insurance industry in<br />
getting a deal?<br />
Hon. Members across the House will, I am sure,<br />
agree with comments made by the hon. Member for<br />
South East Cornwall (Sheryll Murray) about the tragic<br />
event in Looe last week, and our condolences go out to<br />
the families of those concerned. There are other issues<br />
elsewhere in Cornwall, and the hon. Member for St Austell<br />
and Newquay (Stephen Gilbert) spoke about the inevitable<br />
unwinding of the cross-subsidy in the system, should<br />
we move to a free market position.<br />
The hon. Member for Cardiff North (Jonathan Evans)<br />
made a powerful speech about the lack of urgency and<br />
care from this Government, and he put it best when he<br />
said that they must get their act together, and soon—a<br />
point I will go on to make. The hon. Member for<br />
Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt) drew on matters<br />
relating to planning and deliberate flooding, reminding<br />
us that we must view this issue in the round. Finally, the<br />
hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish)—a<br />
constituency that has seen more water than most in the<br />
past 12 months—drew on the key issue of affordability<br />
and reminded the House that we are discussing a notfor-profit<br />
scheme.<br />
Ninety-six days are all that stand between today’s<br />
near-universal coverage for flood damage and an unfettered<br />
free market that will leave tens of thousands of people<br />
with homes that are uninsurable, unmortgageable and<br />
unsellable—96 days, and the clock is ticking.<br />
I am disappointed that the Minister for Government<br />
Policy, the right hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr Letwin),<br />
is unable to be with us today as it is clear that he is<br />
leading on negotiations. I am sure that his services as a<br />
Government troubleshooter are needed elsewhere, but<br />
whatever measure of success the Government apply, so<br />
far the process leading to whatever deal we will get has<br />
been a failure—a failure of competence, ambition and<br />
ideology, and a failure of the Prime Minister.<br />
Hon. Members might remember the Prime Minister’s<br />
comments during the extensive flooding of November<br />
last year:<br />
“I’m sure we will do a deal…We are in negotiations at the<br />
moment…We need to take a tough approach frankly and it’s<br />
important insurance companies do what they are meant to, which<br />
is provide insurance to households and we are going to make sure<br />
that happens.”<br />
Just to make it perfectly clear, he said: “I am personally<br />
involved”. That was last year, yet 200,000 high-risk<br />
homes could find themselves without insurance in 96 days.<br />
In government we negotiated a wide-ranging agreement<br />
to ensure near universal access to flooding insurance.<br />
The limitations to that scheme have been made clear,<br />
which is why in 2008 we agreed, alongside the insurance<br />
industry, that a successor deal would be needed. This<br />
Government, however, have had three years but they<br />
have squandered them. They had an insurance industry<br />
willing to negotiate to find a solution, and I made it