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Legal Services Bill [HL]

My Lords, it is very tempting to debate the noble Lord, Lord Jones of Birmingham, particularly as I was not allowed to call myself Lord Hunt of Birmingham, and I never quite discovered how he got away with it. Equally, he was born in Kings Heath, and his final sin is that he supports Aston Villa rather than Birmingham City. Apart from that, he is a jolly good chap. I am sure that if he needed further work, he would have made a very good chair. I have answered the point already. I understand the noble Lord’s point, which I believe was discussed sympathetically in your Lordships’ House, but Members in another place took a different view. They took the view that because of the importance of the Legal Services Board and the importance of having public confidence in it, it would be better if the lay chair had been lay for all time. That is the matter in a nutshell.