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Legal Services Bill [Lords]

I support the Bill and the intention to establish a one-stop shop for legal complaints. That would provide integrity and ensure that complaints that had not been followed through correctly in the past—we have heard many stories about those—will be better dealt with. That is why I support many of the principles underlying the Bill. The independence of the legal profession is the cornerstone of the rule of law. That is worth repeating, even though the Minister was not keen to extol it. When one considers the structures proposed in the Bill, one needs to see where that independence is guaranteed. First, the chair of the legal services board will be a lay person. If the defendant at Stevenage were aware of that, he would no doubt be pleased that the chairman was not a lawyer. It is a clear indication that lawyers will not dominate the regulatory structure.