---

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I declare an interest as a barrister. The Bar is opposed to the proposal and the chairman has written to a number of your Lordships. I also declare an interest having once occupied the role of chairman of the Bar Council, so noble Lords can apply or discount what I am about to say. I stress that noble Lords have covered the ground. Without the invidious nature of picking out one of the speeches, I was impressed by the way in which the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, summarised things. Anyone who has ever sat as a judge or an arbitrator knows that you are enormously dependent on the quality, accuracy and fairness of the advocacy that comes to you. If you do not get proper assistance, for example, in relation to powers of sentencing or whether enactments have been repealed or amended. Stone’s Justices’ Manual shows the incredible part played in enacting laws and amending earlier ones. The law is difficult; sentencing is difficult; and lay magistrates are entitled to the highest possible quality.