Criminal Defence Service Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 2)

I thank my right hon. Friend for his courtesy. I would never accuse him of being non-controversial in any context: it would be more than my life is worth. I believe, however, that the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), who I think served on the Standing Committee and knows the detail of the Bill, seemed also to suggest that it was not the most controversial legislation that had ever been presented to the House. That being the case, I offer again my argument that the Government might have been wiser in this instance to allow the business to find its own level in the traditional way.