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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her reply. We do not dispute the desirability of having competition as one of the objectives. Our concern is about the weighting that competition should have in respect of certain other objectives including the interests of consumers. It is a point about weighting rather than substance. The Minister has responded with her customary sensitivity. I suspect that in doing so she is gently telling me nevertheless that she does not like my amendment. I shall reflect on the consequences of what she said and take a view about it on Report. By the end of this stage in your Lordships’ House it is desirable that we have a clear idea of the precise responsibilities of the Legal Services Board. We have to remember that, at the end of the day, all this regulation is paid for by the professions. I think that they would rightly view with alarm the Legal Services Board turning itself into a fully fledged competition authority, particularly if it were an authority which had the power to promote competition. The possibilities are lamentably endless. It is not just a question of legislative precision. The legislative precision has very practical consequences for everyone being regulated under the Bill in terms of how much it will cost them. The issue of competition perhaps goes a little wider than my amendment envisaged. I apologise to the noble Baroness for broadening it out beyond what I suspect she expected to respond to.