Cheap insurance for Women Faces Axe
European judges are set to rule in a landmark legal case that the determination of insurance premiums can ban based on the differences between men and women. The case was brought by Belgian consumers’ association, challenging the use of statistics based on sex – an established measure of risk for auto insurance, private health insurance and pension schemes. If the judges back the case, female drivers under 26 in the UK would be a 25% increase in car insurance rates, with a decrease in male rates of approximately 10% of the face, according to the Association of British Insurers.
Insurance rates based on statistics of the various life and accident records of men and women is common practice throughout Europe. It is explicitly permitted since 2004 in the EU equal treatment rules.But an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice has advised the judges to overthrow the provision, arguing that “higher” equality provisions enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Lisbon Treaty should now apply.
The last Labour government is to blame for this by signing us to the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Lisbon Treaty have opened the floodgates of court statements as nonsense. But we will be paying dearly for the utter mess bequeathed to us by the last Labour government.