Blair promises action on ‘compensation culture’
Prime Minister Tony Blair today warned that a “wholly disproportionate” fear of risk was causing serious problems for Britain as he called for the compensation culture to be replaced by a “commonsense culture”.
Although much of the debate about the compensation culture was exaggerated and accident claims were in fact falling, people’s attempts to eliminate all risk from daily life could do “serious damage” to the country, he added.
Speaking to the ippr, the Prime Minister admitted that the compensation culture was to some extent a myth, fostered by sensational headlines about accident claims that were later thrown out by the courts.
Accident claims fell five per cent between 2000 and 2005, and litigation costs as a percentage of GDP were only a third of those in the US. In 2003 there were more than seven million school trips and only one death.
But, he added: “Whatever the actual state of the so-called compensation culture, the perception of it and the effects of that perception are real..
“We are in danger of having a wholly disproportionate attitude to the risks we should expect to run as a normal part of life.”
That attitude put pressure on the Government, local authorities and companies to try to eliminate risk in a way that was “out of all proportion to the potential damage”, he said.
The result was a plethora of rules and guidelines. For example, one local authority removed hanging baskets for fear that they might fall on someone’s head, even though no such accident had occurred in the 18 years they had been hanging.
That risk-averse culture must be replaced by a commonsense culture, Mr Blair said: “We cannot eliminate risk. We have to live with it, manage it. Sometimes we have to accept: no-one is to blame.”
Part of that was a more sensible public debate and more responsible reporting, he said.
“Instead of the ‘something must be done’ cry that goes up every time there is a problem or a ‘scandal’, we make it clear we will reflect first and regulate only after reflection.”
But not everything could be fixed by better debate, the Prime Minister said. The “tide of regulation” must be rolled back – and he singled out European lawmakers for particular attention, accusing them of regulating too heavily without sufficient cause.
The Government would use its presidency of the EU to focus on cutting the number of regulations, and was taking action to stop the ‘gold-plating’ of existing laws. Bills had been introduced to create a lighter inspection regime and clamp down on “claim farmers”.
