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Carter Review (Legal Aid)

I am most grateful to you for reminding me of that, Mr. Martlew. Does the hon. Gentleman not accept—in fact, he said this himself—that very constructive proposals have been made not only by the solicitors’ profession, but by the Bar? The problem is not so much that the legal profession does not accept the overpowering need to achieve economy, but the speed with which the proposals are being introduced, the way in which they are being introduced, the changes of proposals and the abandonment of graduated fees, which have been proved to work and to allow control of costs. The Government are rejecting all that in favour of a steamroller approach.