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Legal Services Bill [HL]

I entirely agree with noble Lords who have argued against the idea of a sunset clause. My experience in this House has been that sunset clauses are invariably undesirable. That may not be the experience of everyone, but that is what I think. I have a profound suspicion, therefore, of what is envisaged here. I entirely agree with my noble friend Lord Borrie—not for the first time and, I am sure, not for the last time—who has put his finger on this issue. It is always possible for someone to move that a situation is not working properly, and I envisage that it will be possible in this case as well. So why do we have a sunset clause? The arguments that I have heard today in favour of this proposition have been singularly unconvincing. I would prefer that we should have monitoring and research, which we would always have in any event. Why do we have this provision at all?