United Kingdom Parliamentary Sovereignty Bill

Tom Brake Excerpts

Friday 18th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Chope]

I am grateful, as always, to my hon. Friend—he is absolutely right.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is possible for a 21-year-old woman to have an appalling driving record and for a 21-year-old man to have an exemplary driving record, and therefore that their insurance premiums should be based on their driving habits?

[Mr Chope]

My view is that such issues should be sorted out in the marketplace by the people who provide driving insurance. If an insurance company takes that line—I am sure that some do—why can it not be given the freedom to do what it wants in the marketplace? It is absolutely outrageous that a foreign court and not even a British one should try to dictate to us how our insurance industry, which I think is the best globally, should respond to particular risks.

I note that the hon. Gentleman thinks that that is a good thing, which is in tune with the big advertisement from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe that appears on the back page of the newspaper to which I referred. The advert says how important it is for more power to be taken away from parliamentarians and given to the European Commission and states:

“Europe needs a community not a pact”.

It goes on about how important it is for member states to

“act in unison under the leadership and direction of the European Commission”,

that there is every evidence that an intergovernmental approach does not work and that the community method is much better. I give full marks to the hon. Gentleman; he is fully in tune with the thinking of European Union Liberal Democrats, but I must tell him that I am fully opposed to all that.

[Tom Brake]

May I reassure the hon. Gentleman that Andrew Duff and I differ on certain European matters?

[Mr Chope]

Perhaps we will explore those points of difference, but I note what the hon. Gentleman says.