Member's statement: Home and Car Insurance
Member's statement by Mr Phillip Brett on .
- MLA
- Mr Phillip Brett
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 19 March 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Home and Car Insurance
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4278842
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will raise concerns on behalf of people of North Belfast and across Northern Ireland about the rising costs of home and car insurance. Like other Members, I am sure, I have been inundated in recent weeks with correspondence about renewal costs. The prices quoted for renewals show that the cost of home insurance in particular has gone up hugely in recent weeks. I was contacted at the weekend by a family in Rathcoole who were seeking to renew their home insurance and were quoted prices that had increased by 450%. The car insurance quotes, particularly for our young people who are trying to drive for the first time, are astronomical and completely unacceptable. The Committee for the Economy has contacted representatives of the British insurance industry to request that they come to the Committee and explain why the people of Northern Ireland are being singled out for those ridiculous price increases. It is clear that that needs to change and that the costs cannot be passed on to families who cannot afford them. I put on record the House's message that we will continue to raise those important issues on behalf of our constituents.
195 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.04 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.83).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.05 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.83 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.84 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.13 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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