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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way and I will certainly not rise to his fly by seeking to offer him a party political answer. But I must insist that the suggestion that what is an approved regulator, which in many cases is operating in a quasi-judicial role, should be fined in order to carry out that role according to the views of the court of appeal—in this case the Legal Services Board—seems to be preposterous. It is not acting in the interests of the consumer to suggest that a fine will strengthen the consumer’s interest. It is something that is foreign to our system of appeal on these matters. The continuing attempt on the part of the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, to suggest that there is an inevitable opposition between lawyers and consumers is beside the point. It is a knee-jerk reaction which seems to be far removed from the experience of those who have sought to look after consumers’ interests. I remind the noble Lord that I served for more than five years in defence of the consumer interest as a Minister in the Government of the party to which he belongs.