Legal Services Bill [HL]

I welcome this exchange, which is beginning to focus on some of the questions that have caused concern. It has not been part of our argument that the process of appointment or objectives of the Legal Services Board are identical to those of the judiciary. The Government have provided a means of appointing the judiciary which has been widely accepted. The underlying reasons for that are cognate to those which have motivated the advancing of the amendment. The objective is to ensure that the legal system and services—of which the judges are the pinnacle, but of which those providing legal services below them are an integral part—are not tampered with by the intervention of a Minister who may have absolutely nothing to do with the law. The appointment of a Secretary of State to run the show could bring that about. It is clearly a different situation from the appointment of judges. The Government recognise the virtue of this construct. As they did not rely solely on Nolan principles or declaratory statements about openness and transparency in the appointment of judges, so they should not in this sensitive area. In my humble submission, they must go back to the drawing board on this. I commend the argument advanced by the noble Viscount, Lord Bledisloe, that the amendment lies nicely with Amendment No. 5 of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, ensuring that there is a concurrence of the senior judge. Those two amendments are not mutually contradictory; one does not have to pick and choose between them. I hope that the Government will see the force of that argument and accept it.