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Carter Review (Legal Aid)

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and there will be an impact on other services. As young, talented people refuse to go into the profession because there are no training contracts to enable them to be trained in those firms, they will choose other professions and other areas in which to develop their careers. This is an opportunity for the Minister. The legal action gives us an opportunity to stop the Government doing what they are doing, but the best way forward is to call the parties to a meeting, listen to the almost unanimous views of hon. Members, and reconsider the proposals. I support a Government, and the Minister is a member of a Government, who have done more to provide individual rights than any other Government in history. They have modernised the constitution as no other Government have. What a sad testament it would be to that great achievement if we took away the very basis of people’s ability to go to law, which is legal aid. I hope that the Minister will reconsider the proposals.