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Legal Services Bill [HL]

Will the noble Baroness bear in mind that the public understand very well the need for both these things? It is great news that the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, is there reminding us about consumers, which most of us are. Most of us know that the legal profession needs to be kept in order. There are all sorts of things we could say about it. The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, may very politely say some of them during these proceedings and I may say, ““Hear, hear.”” But the public also understand very well the importance of the public interest because what a particular consumer wants is not necessarily what everybody else wants. People understand the importance of the rule of the law. I do not think that politically the Government need be frightened of giving paramountcy to the public interest. I think the public understand that but they also know very well that they need to be protected from lawyers.