Tories think workers 'cost' our country £615bn last year
And £589bn the year before.That's the only conclusion I can draw from this Spectator piece by David Davis
Victim nation
The compensation culture costs Britain £10 billion a year. David Davis blames the human rights industry
To be fair it might not be his fault. In the piece he refers to estimates of it costing British business £10bn, not Britain, which is a little better. But the whole article smacks of hysteria - does Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s of London, really believe that ‘the compensation culture is starting to plunder the UK economy’. £10bn, which presumambly is an upper estimate, is about what the economy produces in 3 days, and of course the money isn't leaving the British economy, the total cost will be much lower, particularly given the benefits, so I think he's talking rot. Libertarians, who of course believe that all regulation should be replaced by lawsuits, should be particularly outraged.
Update: Incidentally the report is not particualarly convincing. £6.8bn of the £10bn is due to motor car insurance claims, ie from personal injury caused by motor 'accidents'. Such claims are not the stuff most people think about when they hear a Tory ranting about 'compensation culture' (the ones that makes headlines, such as to criminals, aren't costed, but it looks like they account for less than £100m or so), and I suspect 'common sense' would think most of them justified. Furthermore these are paid, through higher premiums, by drivers.
Update II - Of course where there is a cost is in the administration of the process, which the report estimates to be 1/3rd of more of the total cost (ie lawyer and court fees). The solution, presumably, is more government regulation. I'm not sure if this is what Davis wants.
posted by Matthew @ 8/22/2004 05:29:00 PM
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